Integrity

These two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl is designed to get us all revved up for the big game. We have the Cincinnati Bengals who everyone thought would have to buy tickets to get into the game. They have the story of the Boy Wonder Joe Burrow who’s leading the Bengals out of thirty years of playoff darkness. The Rams have the  quarterback Matthew Stafford story. A chance meeting on a Mexican vacation with Rams coach Sean McVay led to the biggest trade last off season. After years with the awful Lions, Stafford finally gets his chance to prove he can win the big one. This is also the time when coaches get fired and hired. There are interviews and second interviews and experts speculating on who is the favorite for a job. Then the Brian Flores story broke.

If you haven’t been paying attention Flores, who is black, was fired by the Miami Dolphins after three years with winning records the last two. Flores was scheduled to be interviewed by the New York Giants for their head coaching job. Through Bill Belichick’s inability to text, Flores claims he found out that the Giants had decided to hire Brian Daboll, the Bills Offensive Coordinator, as head coach three days before they were to interview Flores. Flores felt humiliated. He said the interview was a “sham”. He says the Rooney Rule, which says teams must interview at least one minority candidate from outside their organization for all head coaching, coordinator, and general manager positions, doesn’t work. He’s now suing the NFL, the Giants, and the Denver Broncos for  discrimination. He claims in 2019 then Bronco’s president John Elway showed up an hour late and hung over for Flores’s job interview. Elway fired back that he flew cross country overnight with a team of people for a three and a half hour interview. The Giants also claim they followed all the rules. But the story of fair treatment for black coaching candidates is just one of the damaging stories facing the NFL.

In his lawsuit, Flores claims Dolphins’ owner Stephen Ross offered him one hundred thousand dollars a game to lose in 2019. This would increase the Dolphins’ chances of getting a higher draft pick in the next draft. Flores claims he didn’t lose games intentionally. The Dolphins won five games. Flores claims he was told by the Dolphins’ General Manager that Ross was not happy. Where was Flores’s outrage then? When the very integrity of the game was being undermined? He says he was being offered a bribe and asked to do the very opposite of his job description. Think of the impact on fans who pay for tickets, players who lose their jobs for losing games, the millions of people who bet millions of dollars on betting apps that advertise on NFL games. This goes to the heart of what the NFL stands for. Why didn’t Flores quit and report this to the NFL? Why did he wait three years? Hue Jackson, the former coach of the Cleveland Browns, now says the Browns had a “four year” plan that incentivize losing for two years which led to his 1-31 record over those years. Both Stephen Ross and Browns owners Jimmy Haslam have denied all of this. Haslam says Jackson never accepted any blame and pointed fingers at others for losing.

What would you do if your boss offered you more money to do something unethical or illegal? So far, I haven’t heard any reporter ask Flores or Jackson the obvious questions. Why didn’t you speak up right away? How could you work for someone who was asking you to betray the core belief of any coach, to play fairly to win the game? You’ve spent your life playing and coaching. Teaching players to strive to achieve success. You have the right to be treated fairly when competing for a job. Add to this the testimony of  former Washington Commanders female employees who testified before Congress yesterday about the toxic culture and sexual harassment they claim was part of daily life working for owner Daniel Synder. Synder has apologized for misconduct that took place “at the Team” and taken steps to revamp the culture. He says allegations leveled against him are “outright lies”. The Washington Post reported in 2020, Synder settled a sexual harassment claim brought by a former employee in 2009 for $1.6 million dollars, but admitted no wrongdoing. The NFL is a multi-billion dollar behemoth that has become part of the Americans culture. It likes to tout its concern for player safety, its charities, community involvement, its dedication to winning the right way. As it gets ready for its biggest game of the year, it should reflect on what its done to the integrity of the game.