Every once in a while, an idea comes around that's so revolutionary – so organically powerful – that you have no choice but to take it seriously. They shake the very foundation we stand on; the long arc of history is defined by these ideas. The forward pass, the digital first down marker, dollar hot dog night – all were considered blasphemous in their time, only to age gracefully into some of the NFL's foundational pillars. Society's slow march forward depends on the courage of its people to bring these ideas to the intellectual market place.
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It also depends on leaving some in the drafts. Like, for instance, the latest idea from Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio. Florio's pre-draft traffic apparently isn't where he wants it to be, because this weekend he pulled out the strangest rage-baiting blog you'll see all month. What if, Florio suggests, the Bears and Bengals fix their new stadium woes by simply ... playing in the same stadium! It's that simple!
Mike Florio thinks the Bears could share a stadium with ... the Bengals?
"The market currently supports two teams in the sport that used to be America’s pastime. And with the Bears getting nowhere when it comes to finagling taxpayer funding for a new stadium, the solution could come from having a second team play there. Instantly, the inventory of games would double, from 10 to 20. It would become much easier for the Bears (and possibly the other team, unless it’s just a tenant) to pay for the building with minimal public assistance.
Enter the Bengals. They’re less than three months away from the final countdown to the expiration of their lease at Paycor Stadium. During the league meetings this week, executive V.P. Katie Blackburn said the quiet thing out loud — after 2025, the Bengals can go wherever they want to go."
Two schools of thought here. 1. This is very stupid. Florio surely knows that Chicago and Cincinnati are close to 300 miles apart – that's a five-hour drive, FYI – and even a "Chicagoland" stadium would cut off, what, 40 miles? When you consider that, it's not even that bad of a drive! I know a ton of people who'd love to drive 3.5 hours on a Sunday evening after watching a 17-9 loss. (You also wouldn't catch me working this hard to hand-deliver NFL owners creative ways to work around insufficient taxpayer funds, but that's just me.)
2. This is what offseason content should be. Everyone should be allowed one Very Dumb Idea that they get to try and flesh out when the calendar gets boring. I don't know why he chose this one – and can't get over how very dumb this Very Dumb Idea truly is – but I respect the effort. I'd rather laugh about this than read another mock draft.