Inside the Locker Room: How to Cope with a Losing Season

November 15, 2014   ·   Ryan Riddle   ·   Jump to comments

We’re now 11 weeks into the NFL season and by now we have a pretty good idea which teams are lousy and which ones can ball. What most of us don’t think much about is that the athletes inside those losing locker rooms also begin to develop a firm awareness of their team’s deficiencies. This self-awareness not only perpetuates the problem but also takes an emotional toll on the individual as they try to cope with the realities of a losing season.
Try to imagine what it must be like to show up for practice every morning, lifting weights, putting on the pads, meetings, watching film, then spending time preparing for games late into the evening on your own all while a huge part of you doubts there’s any hope for such efforts producing a victory.
If leadership wanes—which is so often does on a losing team—players begin to lose faith in each other and in their coaches. Every game is soon approached with this underlying sentiment of inferiority rel...

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