Focused and Unflappable: Lessons Learned from Flacco

by Dale Reeves

Story Pastor

What did you do this past Sunday afternoon from 1:00 pm EST to about 4:15 pm EST? Did you watch the football game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Chicago Bears at Paycor Stadium like I did? It was an offensive shootout in which there were only three punts in the whole game. Gutsy Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco, deemed questionable with an injured shoulder earlier in the week, came oh-so-close to leading one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history. Flacco’s nine-yard touchdown pass to Andrei Iosivas gave the Bengals a 42-41 lead with just 54 seconds left after trailing by 15 points with under two minutes left in the game. But Bears rookie tight end Colston Loveland ran through would-be tacklers to complete a 58-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Caleb Williams with 17 seconds left on the scoreboard to give Chicago a 47-42 win.

This came just one week after the Bengals lost to the winless New York Jets, 39-38. Joe Flacco and the Bengals offense scored 80 points in back-to-back Sundays, and were outscored 86-80, as they suffered two devastating losses, and their season continued its downward spiral. The Bengals are the first team since the 1960s to score 38+ points in back-to-back games and lose both games. Their record this year is now 3-6, heading into a bye week for the team.

Many Cincinnati Bengals fans immediately reacted to the defensive meltdown:

—“Everyone in Cincinnati knew that 54 seconds was way too much time left on the clock for the Bengals to win.”

—“Fire Zac Taylor, the coaching staff, scouts, and Duke Tobin, the director of player personnel.”

—“Unfathomable. You have to fire Al Golden (defensive coordinator). You cannot allow your defense to lose in such a way over the last two weeks.”

—“It felt like last week had to be rock bottom for this Cincinnati defense. Somehow, they dug deeper.”

—“This team doesn’t care about winning. They never truly have.”

—“I can’t even believe I’m a Bengals fan.”

—“Bye week is a Golden opportunity to take out the trash.”

A few Bengals players were very straightforward in their locker-room interviews after the game, not pulling any punches. After the game several defenders declined interviews, chuckling, and simply saying, “Catch you on Monday.”

Looking Inward

The best thing I heard after the loss was in the postgame interview with Bengals’ quarterback, Joe Flacco. In his eighteenth season in the NFL, the man is 40 years old and threw for 470 yards (a career high), and four touchdowns last Sunday. He was slinging beautiful throws left and right, and seemed to have no ill effects from a sprained joint in his throwing shoulder. Joe was just 28 years old when he won Super Bowl XLVII with the Baltimore Ravens and was named Super Bowl MVP that year as they defeated the San Francisco 49ers. Joe and his wife Dana have five children, four sons and one daughter, who don’t remember him playing in his prime with the Ravens. To them he’s just their dad, who is a backup quarterback in the NFL. Perhaps that contributes to Joe’s humility in his interviews.

To view his postgame interview from this past Sunday, click here.

Joe was asked, “How do you keep the frustration from seeping among the offensive players based on how the games have gone?”

I loved Flacco’s response:

“If you don’t keep your head down and go to work, then it’s going to be long, miserable season for you. . . . You can’t get distracted. You’re going to be emotional after a game, but at some point you gotta let that go. . . . You have to continue to take pride in doing what you do for a living—no matter what the outcome is.”

When asked how he keeps from talking to defensive players about what needs to change, how he carries himself as a veteran, he replied: “I just try to be the same person every day, and don’t get frustrated. I go to other guys and have good conversations with them about doing good things, going to work, and taking pride in what you do. When you do those things, you don’t have time to get mad at people you shouldn’t be getting mad at. Every one of us has enough to worry about on our own plates. . . . Focus on yourself and do your job! If you do need to talk with someone, we should come at it with an angle that says, ‘This is my brother.’”

Joe summarized his thoughts with this takeaway, that I think speaks even to the body of Christ today:

“That’s what good, hard-working tough people do. They don’t look at other people, they look inward. It doesn’t matter what the situation is.”

Looking Upward

This past week at Christ’s Church, our lead pastor Brad Wilson taught from Colossians chapter three, in which the apostle Paul provides practical instructions for husbands and wives; children and parents; and advice that can help us succeed in our workplaces, when we are managing others, and when we must report to a higher authority. If you missed that teaching, you can check it out here. That whole passage can be summarized with this statement from Paul: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Colossians 3:23, ESV).

Then on Sunday night after the Bengals’ loss, as Mark Healy led our monthly prayer gathering, he pressed deeper into this thought of working for God first and foremost, striving to always give him our best. Mark shared a few more Scriptures for us to meditate on and to guide our prayer thoughts this week. Among them were:

“All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty” (Proverbs 14:23, NIV).

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans” (Proverbs 16:3, NIV).

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might . . .” (Ecclesiastes 9:10, ESV).

Joe Flacco spoke about having “good conversations” with his teammates about “doing good things,” and going to work. At Christ’s Church we have been talking about what it looks like to have “Good conversations” with others who need Jesus . . . that can lead to “God conversations” . . . that can ultimately lead to “Gospel conversations.” I love this promise that the apostle Paul writes about—doing good things will reap benefits if we just keep doing the work God has called us to:

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9, NIV).

A Scripture verse that has always provided a guiding principle for my work life, speaking about keeping my head down and taking care of what is “on my own plate,” and not that of others is 1 Corinthians 15:58, “So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless” (NLT).

In other words, be focused and unflappable for Jesus!