By Chris Yingling | Echo
"Cam Newton, your team just lost the Super Bowl. What are you going to do next?"
Apparently, Newton's going to be a sore loser.
That was the case last Sunday as Peyton Manning's Denver Broncos dismantled the heavily-favored Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50. Super Bowl MVP linebacker Von Miller and future Hall-of-Famer DeMarcus Ware made the football field a living hell for Newton as the 26-year-old quarterback struggled to find any sort of offensive footing. He was responsible for three of the Panthers' four turnovers, he made too many errant throws and his offensive line looked disheveled.
But perhaps Newton's biggest blunder of the day was the way he handled his postgame press conference.
In case you haven't seen the viral videos, Newton sat down to field the barrage of questions. While the one-two punch of Miller and Ware hurt, this must've felt like agony to the inexperienced quarterback. He had just spent the last two weeks guaranteeing a Panthers victory. His confidence level was through the roof heading into the biggest game of the year. Newton was obviously unprepared to be knocked off his high horse.
Frustrated with the questioning, Newton stood up and left the stage, unannounced and unprovoked. He collapsed under the pressure of being the losing quarterback for only the second time all season. Immersed in his culture of dancing, dabbing, giving footballs to children and essentially having no weaknesses, he forgot humility.
I get it. Losing the Super Bowl has to be one of the worst feelings imaginable. He's riding his incredible 17-1 team with the No.1 scoring offense and sixth-ranked defense into the biggest game. He has every right to be upset that things didn't go his way against Denver. Winning should be important to a quarterback, and he should be upset with the way his team played.
His emotions are not the problem. The way he handled them is the problem.
Walking off the stage during a press conference shows an incredible amount of immaturity. If you look at the all-time greats when they lose the championship (Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, etc.), they shoulder the emotions in front of the media. They answer questions directly, take responsibility for not doing enough and vow to get better.
After winning his first NFL MVP award and becoming a household name, Newton is quickly becoming the face of the NFL. He's popular all over the world for loving the game of football and exemplifying that with his play. That's wonderful, and I encourage Newton to continue loving football as much as he does.
However, Newton needs to learn to lose. As the face of the franchise, there are kids looking up to Cam Newton for how he plays the game. While he gives a great example of having fun every down, I don't want the next generation of football players trying to learn the art of graciously losing from Newton.
Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders put it best in his statements to Newton, saying, "You are the face of our brand right now, you can't do that."
Prime is right. No, you can't.
