I am fired up over the decision the Buffalo Bills made yesterday when they benched quarterback, Tyrod Taylor, and replaced him with a rookie named Nathan Peterman.
Before the game, the Bills were 5-4 and clinging to a Wild Card spot in the playoffs, and Taylor contributed to their success by throwing 10 touchdowns and only 3 interceptions through 9 games.
But the team went on a 2-game losing streak, and apparently the coaching staff felt he wasn’t doing enough, so they started an unproven rookie on the road against the LA Chargers.
Unfortunately this turned out to be an all around disaster, with Peterman throwing five interceptions in the first half and the Bills going on to lose 54-24. Clearly Peterman wasn’t ready to be thrown out there, and he was eventually benched.
As a football fan, I can’t get over how poor of a decision this was. Even though it’s easy to second guess, this was way too risky of a move and ultimately had a negative outcome for everyone involved.
Head Coach, Sean McDermott, made an interesting comment after the embarrassing loss:
“Again, I feel like this was the right situation for Nate to come in and play. I don’t regret my decision. I regret the result. We didn’t get the result we were looking for, but I don’t regret the decision at all.”
As a rookie head coach, he will hopefully learn from this, but he will have to deal with the consequences of putting his team in a bad situation.
I’m not even a Bills fan, but as I step back and look at how this situation played out, I can relate to making my own poor decisions and trying to deal with unfavorable results without any regret.
Unfortunately, sometimes in our own lives we make choices that don’t end well or go in a different direction than we anticipated. The key lesson to learn, however, is understanding how to make a better decision the next time, so we can avoid these types of scenarios in the future.
McDermott can’t go back and change the outcome, but he can learn to make a wiser decision the next time around.
Proverbs 27:12 (NLT), the Bible’s book of wisdom, tells us: “A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.”
We don’t have all of life’s answers, and it’s difficult to always know what’s best, but I do know we serve an all-knowing and all-powerful God who gives wisdom and guidance to those who seek Him.
There are many consequences we can avoid if we remain faithful and diligent in doing the will of the Lord. Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV) encourages us to, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.”
Proverbs 22:3 (AMP) explains, “A prudent and far-sighted person sees the evil [of sin] and hides himself [from it], but the naive continue on and are punished [by suffering the consequences of sin].”
McDermott will most likely learn from Sunday’s disastrous decision and disappointing result, but ultimately it’s just a football game. When the rest of us encounter small or life-changing choices, we must decide to either follow Jesus and pursue wisdom…or blindly go our own way.
Today, I hope each of us will trust in the Lord with all our heart and be prudent to see things His way. I’m Bryce Johnson and you can unpackthat!
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I admit I make choices based on my limited understanding, and even though I think it may be a good decision, I end up dealing with unfortunate consequences. I pray I would instead rely on You to help me make wise moves in my life – grounded in truth and faith. I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
