Right now we are in the third and final week of the NFL preseason. And we have no idea where each team stands. Like NO idea.
I asked my friend the internet why no one seems to care who’s winning and who’s losing, and this is what I discovered.
Preseason success in the National Football League has almost zero correlation with regular-season success. (What??) And NFL teams generally care more about player evaluation than winning preseason games.
Coming from a career’s worth of high school sports, it feels so weird to me that preseason wins don’t matter in the NFL.
High school preseason is different, for sure. Teams use those games to get starters ready, test the plays they actually plan to use, build confidence, and figure out who belongs where. Winning matters more because those games are part of preparing the team to compete together.
NFL preseason has a different job.
While no professional athlete or coach likes to lose, a team has 3 primary goals in the preseason:
- Make Roster Decisions: Coaches have to cut their rosters down to 53 by tomorrow so they care deeply about evaluating that bottom 25% of their roster. They will often call specific plays just to see how a player on the bubble reacts under pressure, even if that play is not the best strategic choice to win that specific game.
- Evaluate Execution: Teams use simplified “vanilla” playbooks so coaches can see how players handle assignments, communication, timing, and pressure in a live game without revealing the more complex schemes they plan to use during the regular season.
- Keep Players Safe: Keeping star players healthy is infinitely more important than a preseason victory. Starters rarely play more than a few series, and sometimes they sit out the entire preseason.
An NFL coach may knowingly make a decision that lowers the odds of winning a particular preseason game because the real priority is preserving something more valuable for the season ahead.
Sometimes we do that! We go after the short-term win at the expense of protecting something more valuable:
- our energy
- our relationship
- our health
- our self-respect
- our long-term goal
- our peace
- our ability to keep going
And there’s a really interesting tension in all of this because in our lives (and, in sports, too) we are often rewarded for getting the immediate win:
Finish the project.
Say yes.
Keep everybody happy.
Push through.
Get the result.
But an NFL coach can look at the scoreboard, accept the loss, and still know he made the right call because he protected the team for what he needs later, in the games that matter more.
Here are some places where we might deliberately give up an immediate win because something else matters more:
- We might want to keep arguing until we’ve made our point, proven we’re right, or gotten the last word. But sometimes, ending the conversation sooner protects the relationship, the trust between us, and our ability to come back to it more productively later.
- We might want to get everything crossed off our list tonight. Finishing feels good, and pushing through can look productive. But leaving some work undone may protect our energy, our sleep, our family time, and our ability to function well tomorrow.
- We might want to rescue our teenager, fix the problem, or keep them from being upset with us. But letting them experience the consequences of their choices can protect something bigger: their development, their resilience, their problem-solving ability, and our long-term relationship with them as a capable person.
- We might want to finish the run, hit the number, or keep the streak alive. But stopping when something hurts may protect our body and our ability to exercise next week, next month, and next year.
- We might want to answer an upsetting text immediately because defending ourselves feels urgent and leaving it unanswered feels uncomfortable. But waiting until we’re more calm can protect our judgment, the relationship, and the version of ourselves we want showing up in the conversation.
- We might want to say Yes to keep someone happy and avoid the awkwardness of disappointing them. But saying no this time can protect our time, our limits, and our ability to keep showing up without resentment.
NFL coaches are protecting what they expect to need in games with greater consequences.
I can’t wait to hear about what in your life you might be willing to treat like preseason — and what you’re protecting for the games that matter more.
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