A team loss is always disheartening for football fans. As the 2023-24 NFL season will soon come to an end, many teams took tough losses that prevented them from reaching Super Bowl LVIII. Although fans of the Baltimore Ravens, San Francisco 49ers, Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs are ecstatic, others are reflecting on their team’s season. 

Marketing major, Diego Martinez, is a Cincinnati Bengals fan who comments the team suffered once quarterback Joe Burrow tore a ligament in his right hand. 

“I only got disappointed because of the quarter back getting injured,” Martinez said. “The quarterback is one of the best prospects in the last couple of years, and he has a really good team behind him but just his injury is the thing that effected the team, cause everyone else was doing pretty alright, but the quarterback is the main guy, the captain, the one that leads.” 

In every NFL season, a player’s injury could potentially cost the team a championship depending on how vital that player’s role is to the team. 

“(For a team to perform well) I feel at the end of the day, it’s just players being healthy,” Martinez said. “And sometimes it’s out of their control, like Joe (Burrow) got injured this year because of just throwing the ball wrong and (tearing) his hand ligament, (which) is not really under his control.” 

Another team with injured players that prevented them from performing well in the season was the Indianapolis Colts. Fan of the Colts and UTEP rugby player, Nathan Beard, is disappointed with quarterback Anthony Richardson. Beard says the previous two quarterbacks gave the team much more potential. 

“I’m still disappointed with the Colts, I mean I love them but ever since Peyton Manning, and honestly the first year we had Andrew Luck, they have not been doing much,” Beard said. 

Richardson’s shoulder injury kept him from playing since October.  

“We definitely need a quarterback, we haven’t really had a good quarterback to lead the team since Andrew Luck,” Beard said. “I think we do need a new coach as well; I think the Colts were the best back when Tony Dungy was the coach, we need to get back to having a coach like that.” 

UTEP rugby player, Jake Fierro, goes for the Green Bay Packers. Coming close to playing in the NFC Championship, Fierro was surprised with the team’s performance. 

“The Packers definitely surprised me since we were the youngest team in the NFL,” Fierro said. “We had some rookie receivers step up this year, like Bo Melton, who is an underdog, and almost at the end of the season his stats started picking up. And Jayden Reed, I think he’s going be the new Devante Adams.” 

This season, the Packers were close to beating the 49ers in the NFC Divisional round. But because of kicker Anders Carlson’s field goal miss, the Packers lost 21-24.  

“Our kicker and one of our biggest problems this year was our defense, (but) we just fired out defensive coordinator, Joe Barry, so I can’t wait to see what our new defensive coordinator will bring next season,” Fierro said. 

Whether injuries or coaching abilities stunt a team’s growth, next season each team will have a fresh start. During the off season, many teams find their weakness and improve from the previous seasons. With many trades, new coaches, and new rookies, the 2024-25 NFL season is already being anticipated. 

Sofia Sierra is a staff reporter and may be reached at [email protected]