Plenty of people have voiced their opinion that the Pro Bowl should end because it is a non-competitive game that barely resembles NFL football.
Few of the people arguing in favor of the game’s elimination actually played in it, although they are getting support on that front as well. Former Lions tight end and current assistant director of pro personnel Charlie Sanders was a seven-time Pro Bowler during his playing days, but he thinks the current generation of Pro Bowlers aren’t doing enough to justify the game’s continued existence.
“I think they’re going to eliminate it, they’re going to cut it out, because it’s turned into a disgrace, to be honest with you,” Sanders said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free-Press. “It doesn’t represent football. It’s more of a mockery of the game. I think that if that’s the way they’re going to go about handling such a prestigious honor, then I think they need to eliminate it.”
The Pro Bowl’s future was hotly debated, but it will live on this year. This probably won’t be the last we hear of calls to either drastically change it to make it a better event or eliminate it altogether, though. The reprieve gives Matthew Stafford another chance to end a long drought for the Lions.
They haven’t had a Pro Bowl quarterback since Greg Landry in 1971. If Sanders is right, their time to get another one is running out fast.