Why did I make this?

In the past 2 months, I’ve spent countless hours using R Studio to dive into NFL and CFB analytics. In an effort to share my work, I turned to Twitter to share some of the visualizations I’ve created as well as to connect with like-minded individuals who are on a similar journey as me.

Though Twitter has been a great place to share my thoughts and ideas, I’ve created this newsletter to go even deeper into my statistical analyses and create a portfolio of my work. This will allow me to create comprehensive game, player, and season reviews and share them with you in a storytelling fashion, using analytics to drive home points.

Football is a game of storylines, and this is my place to share them.

Why “NFL’s Darkest Timeline”?

For most of you, you’re probably curious as to how I came up with such an awesome, creative, and intriguing name. For those who are fans of the TV show Community, you know exactly where my inspiration came from.

Some Backstory

Growing up in the Chicagoland area, I, of course, grew up a Bears fan. One of my first and favorite memories of football was when Devin Hester returned the opening kickoff of Super Bowl XLI for a 92-yard touchdown. Jim Nantz’s commentary of the play is forever engrained in my brain.

Since then, however, being a fan of the Chicago Bears has not all been sunshine and rainbows. Despite my loyalty and resounding love for the team, I have been battered and beaten by some heartbreaking moments.

Here are the one’s that have stuck with me the most. If you are also a Bears fan, you might want to skip this part.

• The infamous Double Doink

• “4th & 8” (Packers vs. Bears, 2013 Week 17)

• BJ Raji’s Pick 6 in the 2010 NFC Championship game

• Bears fall 1-yard short on 54-yard Hail Mary vs. Patriots (2018 Week 7)

• Darnell Mooney drops would be Hail Mary vs. Browns (2023 Week 15)

• Aaron Rodgers 20-0 comeback (2018 Week 1)

• Double-digit lead blown vs. Detroit (2023 Week 11)

• 55-14 loss vs. Packers (2014 Week 10)

Enduring this much pain means only one thing. Of all the timelines, this one is clearly the darkest.

The Reference

In Season 3 Episode 4 of the TV show Community, they spend the episode at a housewarming party, rolling a die to see who has to go down and grab the pizza that was just delivered. Each roll of the dice creates a separate timeline, and they explore what each of those timelines looks like throughout the episode.

• I can’t stress enough how genius this show is, and in particular this episode. If you haven’t seen it and need something to watch, I highly recommend checking the show out on Netflix.

The sixth roll of the die creates what they call in the show “The Darkest Timeline”, Without spoiling any of the show, this timeline is most representative of how it has felt to be a Bears fan in recent years.

At the end of the episode, it cuts to this “Darkest Timeline” and Abed (my favorite character) says the iconic line.

The evil version of Abed proposes they commit to being evil and creates felt goatees, which you can see are used in my logo for this newsletter.

Abed’s timeline theory goes on to be referenced multiple times throughout the show and is by far my favorite bit the show has to offer. As an homage to the show, I’ve incorporated it into the newsletter’s title, and fans of the show can enjoy many of the Easter eggs I have and will continue to put throughout the site.

Now you know my inspiration behind the creation of this newsletter, as well as the name of the title and its logo.

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