When NFL Promotes Coaching Matchup And Not Players, You Know Game Stinks

The NFL is trying its hardest to promote Thursday Night Football. Here's the problem: the matchup is terrible. Sure, the Pittsburgh Steelers are currently a playoff team, but they are not a fun watch. The New England Patriots are a complete dumpster fire.

So, about five hours before kickoff, the NFL social media team needed to promote the game. Clearly, they can't try to sell fans a matchup between Mitch Trubisky and Bailey Zappe. They won't even try, fans are too smart for that.

The NFL is trying to get people to watch the Patriots and Steelers on Thursday night by promoting Bill Belichick vs Mike Tomlin. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

When the quarterback matchup is bad, they usually default to another star player on the offense. For the Patriots, they literally don't have an offensive "star." Probably their best player, Rhamondre Stevenson, is hurt. Forget star, they might not have a player on offense who ranks as "above average."

On Pittsburgh's side, they at least have a little more name recognition. However, the league isn't going to promote Diontae Johnson since who knows if he'll even try in Thursday's game. Najee Harris? Jaylen Warren? Pat Freiermuth?

Nah. The league decided to promote the ... coaching matchup. Mike Tomlin vs. Bill Belichick! Battle of the Titans!

Look, I'm not discrediting either of these men. Two of the best in the business, no question. However, both fan bases have started calling for their firings.

Even without that, no one tunes into an NFL game to watch the coaches. The league knows that. They also know that people probably aren't tuning into this game anyway, so why not try this route?