History is littered with fallen Empires. The Aztez, the Egyptians, the Romans, as well as the band Journey, MTV’s television programming and Neatock’s hairline. The collapse of Griff is not equal to the collapses of any of these great dynasties. His fall from grace feels more like the fall of Jared Fogle (the Subway guy). Yet, it still deserves its own mention. The fact is, Griff’s descent feels like it’s happening in slow motion; like a dream where you’re falling and you can’t wake up from and the whole time you’re falling, Robio is there reminding you…hey, you’re falling.
Recent additions like Michael can’t even pretend to fathom this fall. He’s never been a witness to Griff’s greatness. Yet, it was once there. The peak of the Coomer Empire was the year two-thousand and fifteen. That year began with a trade. For the first time ever, a person with the top pick (Robio) traded away the top pick to Griff, who took Adrian Peterson. The Vikings back was dominant, but Griff, who struggled to find a second back, was inconsistent.
While he did put forth three 1,600+ games, he was just 4-5 through nine weeks. It wasn’t the first time a Griff team struggled. However, the expectation was, like so many times in the past, he would find a way. And he did. Sitting on the waiver wire was David Johnson, a backup RB I had drafted and recently cut. Griff got him and Johnson became the starter and dominated the back half of the season. Coomer wouldn’t lose another game, winning his final five and dominating the playoffs.
Because his backfield was basically guys that I had traded away or cut, it represented the official handoff from my dynasty to Griff’s. Yes, there was still Bob, who had earned the #1 spot in the career rankings, but it seemed like at any moment, that spot would belong to Coomer. And yes, he would have earned it.
Griff is remembered as one of the two original members of the league. However, he actually didn’t draft his team in 1999. Another guy had drafted that team, but was soon fired. Griff, who had just recently joined the Ruby Tuesday team was an obvious choice to take over the squad.
Coomer may never have been the coolest kid in class, but there was probably no one more liked. You mention his name and you’d be hard to find someone who didn’t know him and it would be impossible to find someone who didn’t like him. We had known each other for years, worked together, played together, smoked weed together…so it was an honor to have him in the league.
For the first 17 years in the league, he may not have made this league his bitch, but he delivered a lot of spankings. Griff produced 14 winning regular seasons and missed the postseason just three times. He never scored lower than 8th in points scored. The three times he missed the playoffs, his opponents led the league in points against each year, so it took a lot to keep him out of the playoffs. Of course, based on his postseason performances, we wanted him out.
He made it to the finals in his first two years in the league, losing both times to me. That would be his theme for a bit. In fact, he would reach the title game in five of the league’s first seven years in the league. Finally earning his first title in 2005.
He did run into some quarterfinals issues between 2010-12, losing in round one as a top seed in 2012, but still, he would make it to three more title games, winning it all again for 2015. In 17 years, he had made it to a then record eight championship games, winning it all twice. He was top three in winning percentage and points and had the most All-Robio players ever.
Heading into 2016, it was assumed he’d just continue his winning ways. He entered the year with arguably the best backfield ever, Adrian Peterson and David Johnson, along with elite receiver DeSean Jackson. The world was his oyster.
Unfortunately, Adrian Peterson got knocked out for the year early, Griff never found a replacement and the rest of the team never jelled. He dropped his first three, never managed to win three in a row and finished with just four wins. He became the third defending champ to miss the playoffs, finishing in 10th place.
Still, it felt wrong. This was Griff. Yet, the following year, Griff again started 0-3. By week eight, he was just 2-6. However, he did somehow manage to win four of his final five games. He finished below .500 for the second straight year (just the second time he had back-to-back seasons below .500), but still managed to earn the 7-seed. He did not survive the quarterfinals.
It all still felt like a fluke. At any minute, he’d be back in the title game for a ninth time. But 2018 delivered another four win season. 2019 was the worst of the worst. He won just two games and for the first time ever, finished dead last and earned the top pick in the next draft. That should have fixed his ills. Top overall picks in this league making the playoffs are a near-sure thing. Griff even began his 2020 campaign with three straight wins. Yet, he would go on to lose nine straight (tying a record) before salvaging his final game (missing the postseason again). In 2021, another 3-0 start was wiped away with a 3-8 finish.
This year, the season began with just one win and followed by a four game losing streak. He won again in week six, but that too was followed by a four game losing streak. At 2-8, it became official.
For the 7th straight year, Griff will not produce a winning record. That’s now the longest streak in league history. Since that 2015 title game, he is just 24-62 (.279 winning percentage). It is the worst 86-game stretch by anyone in league history. Hell, it’s been six and a half years since Griff has earned a weekly high score. That was so long ago, it was against his ex-wife.
The 2015 championship was supposed to be the moment when Griff’s greatness was to become a dynasty…instead, it was just the beginning of one of the greatest falls in fantasy football history.