By Ray Cardello for January 24, 2022 Season 8 / Post 26

This weekend may be the best of the NFL season. The eight best teams meet in four games over two days to determine which teams will play next week, needing one final win to get into the Super Bowl. Yesterday, the two best went down to defeat in their home stadiums. Both games ended on game-winning field goals in the final play to break the hearts of the home team.

I am writing this post after watching another superhuman comeback by Tom Brady to tie the game in the final minute after trailing by 14 points with less than 5 minutes remaining to play. The Rams marched down the field to win with a last-play field goal. Three games, three underdog wins. There will be no repeat championship for Brady and the Bucs.

The results so far prove you never count anyone out in football. Over the last two years, what has happened proves you never count out the American people. Americans have had their business closed. Schools closed, churches closed, confined to their home. They were forced to live in masks and pressured to be vaccinated to move about the country freely. Americans have assumed the role of the underdog since March of 2020. Two long years with their lives on hold.

The American people took the best shot that COVID could muster. People surrendered their rights and freedoms because our elected officials at all levels of government were drunk on power and calling the shots. While learning to survive and to live in the post Pandemic endemic, the American people got hit with the effects of the worst Presidential administration ever.

Rampant inflation, supply chain issues, big cities being ravaged by unchecked crime, and a hemorrhaging Southern Border should have been enough to bring the country to its knees. Throw in a Democrat party, with the thinnest of majorities in the House and Senate, dumping trillions of dollars into the economy while trying to transform America into a more Socialist country, and you have pushed Americans too far. The beleaguered population is ready to fight back, and the Democrats look to be the victims of their anger and frustration.

The Republicans point to Virginia as evidence of a coming tsunami in November. In a traditionally blue state, the Republicans won the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General elections to take control of the state. The Democrats read the American people wrong in their effort to force a Green Philosophy, negate our energy independence, and attempt to convince us we are a racist and oppressive country. Americans who have been beaten down and controlled by Democrats for two years, the underdogs, are clawing their way back.

Like the underdog visiting teams who defied odds and will play on in their quest for a championship, American voters are poised to give Republicans their most decisive majority of Congress since the 1920s. With the poor performance of Joe Biden in his first year, the Republicans may complete the Triple Crown in 2024 and control all three branches of government. Never count the underdogs out. That is why they play the games. And that is why we have elections.