Las Vegas, Nevada--- The time has to come to abolish the Pro Bowl, or at least end the tackle portion of the football game. After last Sunday's performance, in which Mac Jones hitting the griddy was the only worthwhile highlight to an AFC 41-35 win. All fans could see the lack of effort on each play as it looked more like a game of two hand touch than actual football. This is not written to bash the players who do not want to risk injury in a meaningless gamem, but to instead offer a better solution. The issue with the Pro Bowl is that it is first, not a real game. The only memorable highlight to come from a Pro Bowl game was Sean Taylor's hit on punter Brian Moorman. Other than that, there is little to no physical contact as seen by defenders who have intercepted the quarterback and run with the ball freely until they are most likely pushed out of bounds. Instead of having a tackle football game it should instead be changed to a 7 on 7 flag football game which would help reduce any injury risk and make it more competitive as it would feature a lot of star receivers against the best defensive backs in the game.
Another issue with the Pro Bowl is that due to a lot of players not coming it instead names players who are not worthy of the honor. Does anyone really think that Russel Wilson, Kirk Cousins or Mac Jones had a stellar all-star season? No, but they are invited to the Pro-Bowl to help fill roster spots. This underlines a fundamental issue in that most star players do not want to participate in the game and see it as a waste of time. I propose that the pro-bowl honors should be as selective as the all-pro awards and be a very prestigious award for a player to receive. It should not be a participation trophy award for veteran quarterbacks like Russell Wilson who did not have a good year.
The problem with football is that it is a physical game in which someone could sustain a devastating injury on almost every play. Due to this, the viewer does not see the best players in the game or a good game at all. This makes it distinct from the NBA all-star game which is full of amazing highlights and is engaging to watch. All football fans are in agreement that this game is not worth being played, signaling that it should change.
The Pro Bowl is in desperate need of reform and should look at changing itself to increase its viewership. In my opinion, there should more skills challenges among the players such as 1 v 1 receiver drills and bringing back the bench press challenge. I think those extra skill competitions and a 7 on 7 flag game would increase viewership and make it something that the players would give more effort in.