I find myself rooting for the Minnesota Vikings and the Jacksonville Jaguars to reach the Super Bowl, for no other reason than the matchup would destroy one of sports’ dumbest cliche thoughts: You need a great QB to lead you to the big game.
Now, of course, bad-to-mediocre quarterbacks have appeared in Super Bowls. Miami reached the game behind David Woodley. Chicago got there with Rex Grossman. Hell, Trent Dilfer actually won a Super Bowl with the Ravens.
But all those instances have asterisks. Woodley lost. Grossman lost. The Ravens may well have featured the best defense in NFL history. Truly, Dilfer was merely a passenger on the train.
Should Bortles or Viking quarterback Case Keenum triumph, however, there will be no available asterisks. Both men have started the entire season. Both men have played nearly all the snaps. Yes, the Jags and Vikings both have tremendous defenses—but hardly all-time tremendous.
So, truly, this can be the death of another stupid sports talking point.
And I’ll be a happy camper.
