Stetson Bennett's imperfections make him perfectly suited for Rams in 2024

Against the wind

There was a very popular singer named Bob Seger who sang a song on this subject and curiously named the very song Against The Wind. Curiously, the story goes that the song was named after his journey about Seger's high school days as a cross-country runner. It was a song about young people and young relationships weathering the storm.

Bob Seger himself shared that the song's popularity was based on the discovery over time of who is there to use you versus the ones who truly care about you. In many ways, that is the nature of maturing, of understanding one's relationship with others and the world around you.

Waking up one day wondering how you got here is not uncommon. And yet the lyrics to this quite popular 1980 song struck a nerve at the time, and resonated with his fans world-wide.

"And the years rolled slowly past
And I found myself alone
Surrounded by strangers I thought were my friends
I found myself further and further from my home and I
I guess I lost my way
There were oh so many roads
I was living to run
And running to live
Never worried about paying
Or even how much I owed"

- Verse 2, Against the Wind by Bob Seger

But applying that 1980 smash hit to the scenario that has unfolded publicly over quarterback Stetson Bennett's rookie struggles, the parallels are eerily similar. While some view this journey, this recalibration of Bennett and his perception of whether on not he is on the right path to accomplish what he ultimately wants to do with his life, I see this as a strength and as a reaffirmation.

Young men and women draw motivation to pursue careers and vocations from countless numbers of sources. That is necessary because our decisions about what we want to be 'when we grow up,' inevitably is based on the perception and never the reality. How can you possibly know whether you will love the medical profession as you begin to undertake the countless number of years to learn and train to become a doctor, a lawyer, a pilot, or a nuclear physicist.

Does that make those doctors, lawyers, or physicists any less proficient at what they do? It does not. But it does make person's susceptible to the epiphany that someday they make realize that they are engaged in a profession that they no longer have the passion to perform. And that often leads to a complete change of professions.

Stetson Bennett, for a lack of analogy, has simply endured that epiphany in 2023. The great news about all of that time off is that he is back in the saddle once more, not because the Rams want him to be there, but because he himself wants to be there.