What MNF fiasco tells us about character

I have been interviewing medical students and resident physicians for positions at my institution for a couple of years now. One thing I always like to look for in applicants is GRIT! When you get knocked down how do you respond? The MNF officiating fiasco (and how folks respond to officials in general) can open a door into one's personality.


Work, and life in general, requires GRIT. We all like working with people who have GRIT because they tend to bounce back and refocus quickly. While not the sole criteria, applicants who have a background in organized, competitive sports (this includes band, dance, gymnastics, etc) tend to bounce back from adversity...something that happens on a daily basis in medical education.

The recent Monday Night Football controversy hit a cord with me in this regard. For those unfamiliar with what happened (first, did you not read any news in the last 24 hours?), the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks played a football game which was marred by poor officiating and the Packers, struggled to get into any rhythm offensively due to Seattle's aggressive defensive line. The Packers held a 5 point lead  with one play left in the game, and then this happened: 

After being dissected more than the Zapruder Film, the conventional wisdom is that the officials incorrectly awarded Seattle a touchdown and "stole" a win from Green Bay. Let's point out that the "usual" NFL referees are currently in a labor dispute with the NFL and "replacement referees" have been calling NFL games since the preseason.

Drama aside, reactions to this play speak volumes about what competition teaches us about character. I give credit to my coaches in high school who always preached focusing on your performance and not that of the officials. Translating it to work/life: when adversity hits, focus on what you need to do to get better and bounce back, don't blame someone else.

When the patient has a bad outcome, we are taught to look for what we can do to prevent it from happening again, but TOO often it becomes: "It won't happen again if so-and-so hadn't [whatever]...We should move away from this and the interview process can be a time to tease this out. We should take a page from professional athletes where it is sacrilegious to blame the officials for losing a game. The MNF fiasco serves as a reminder that no matter how egregious the error, you still can't blame the officials and you have to be better...(8 sacks in the first half?)

Finally, reigning 2011 NFL MVP and Packers QB, Aaron Rodgers sums up GRIT in his post game press conference (start at the 2:35 mark to see the exchange below) when asked about the loss:

Reporter: "How long do you let yourself stay upset about something like this?" 

Rodgers: "I'll probably be fine by the time tomorrow hits."

As much as the loss stings for the Packers...this is what professional athletes can teach us about character and handling adversity.