Prof. John Stackhouse’s Weblog

My eldest son, a fan of both films (he is a budding filmmaker) and sports (he is a nut about NFL football and NHL hockey), writes on his blog about whether God cares who wins the Super Bowl, or an Oscar, or whatever, in the field of entertainment.

(In fact, didn’t some team win some championship recently? Ah, yes: South Africa won the rugby World Cup. Or was it someone else winning something else…? Doesn’t matter. Don’t care.)

Anyhow, I refer you to his blog and the entry of October 24, “Thou Shalt Not Thank Me for Football Excellence,” with the usual parental caution that sons sometimes express themselves in ways that fathers don’t always approve–but I like what the kid has to say this time!

Those of us who care have seen Super Bowl XLI. Those of us who don’t, don’t want to read about it. So I’ll make this brief, and it’ll be easy to skip anyhow.

Peyton Manning did not deserve the Most Valuable Player trophy. His two running backs did. He didn’t play a bad game, but his only impressive completions came when Chicago’s defense completely blew coverages and left receivers wide open. Super Bowl MVPs need to do more than complete such passes, but Manning didn’t do much more. His backs did, and he rode them to victory. I hope he learns humility from this entire postseason, in fact, during which he threw a lot of interceptions, some of them stupid, and needed his team to get him out of trouble–not the other way around, which is what MVPs are supposed to do.

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Chicago Bears football fans, among which I number myself, having cheered for them since our seven years’ sojourn in the Windy City in the mid-1980s, are deeply divided about a matter of faith.

Some saw this past Sunday’s disastrous season-ender against the Green Bay Packers as evidence that coach Lovie Smith’s confidence in young quarterback Rex Grossman has been misplaced for an entire season. Fans talk about “the good Rex” and “the bad Rex,” referring respectively to Grossman’s ability to win and to lose–very badly. The bad Rex showed up Sunday, and–having gone 3-for-13 with three interceptions and a fumble, giving him a quarterback rating of precisely zero–he was yanked (”Finally!” many exclaimed) for veteran Brian Griese, who played the second half.

Griese proceeded to stink up Soldier Field himself, missing passes and throwing interceptions until he, too, earned the coveted QB rating of zero. He managed a few fine plays along the way, and led Chicago to its lone touchdown of the afternoon. But as the Bears go into the playoffs, they have got to be the highest-ranked team in recent memory to have such terrible problems at quarterback.

All of this, of course, reminds me of theology, as it doubtless does you, too. In particular, it reminds me of the question of faith.

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