What happened to Bills safety Damar Hamlin on Monday night was a horrifying spectacle.
Not to be cold, but NFL fans will turn the page to a fresh batch of games because they’re hopelessly hooked on football.
In this week’s “Polling Place,” your home for Sun-Times sports polls on Twitter, we wanted to know if the sport’s violent nature is at the heart of why fans watch. Does it make them more likely to watch? Less likely?
“I don’t watch MMA — I think it’s barbaric — but football, while violent, is a game of strategy, team execution and perseverance,” @RicoMuscatel commented.
“People are lying to themselves,” @davesned wrote. “Nobody’s tuning in to watch the National ‘Tag, You’re It’ League.”
We also asked what the Bears’ top priority should be, moving forward, with quarterback Justin Fields. To develop his passing skills? To protect him? To surround him with talent?
“Justin will take care of No. 1,” @79illwill offered. “Nos. 2 and 3 are on the Bears.”
Finally, we asked about Monday’s college football title game: Who wins, Georgia or TCU?
On to the polls:
Poll No. 1: Does the violent nature of football make you more likely to watch it or less likely to watch it?
Upshot: There’s a whole lot of “not sure” in the mix, but that might be an easy way out. Who doesn’t get some level of thrill from a so-called decleater or a pad-popping hit you can hear from the stands or your sofa? Of course fans don’t want to see injuries, but five-on-one tackles in the backfield? Heck, yes.
Poll No. 2: What’s Job 1 for the Bears re: Justin Fields going forward?
Upshot: A lot of Bears fans — perhaps most of them — are convinced Fields is a star in the making. Whether or not they’re correct about that, we can all agree he has to get better. He can’t do it, though, without a proper wall of flesh in front of him and some dangerous dudes on the outside to get open for his passes. It’s an all-of-the-above deal.
Poll No. 3: Which team wins Monday night’s college football championship game, Georgia or TCU?
Upshot: Just one-quarter of the vote going to the Horned Frogs? Actually, that might be generous. The opening point spread had the Bulldogs favored by 13 1/2 points. It has ticked down to 12 1/2 , but that’s still the biggest title-game spread of the College Football Playoff era. Then again, that’s why God invented upsets.