Riding a bike seems simple enough—keep your balance, pedal, and steer clear of obstacles. But if you’ve ever been on two wheels, you’ve likely experienced the phenomenon of “target fixation.” You see a pothole ahead, and despite your best intentions, your eyes lock onto it. Before you know it, your bike follows your gaze, and you’re right where you didn’t want to be: in the middle of that pothole. The same principle applies to football teams, and it’s a lesson worth learning.
In football, as in biking, where you focus your attention matters. Teams often find themselves so preoccupied with avoiding mistakes—like fumbling a snap or missing a crucial block—that they inadvertently create the very errors they fear. It’s the classic case of overthinking. Players might worry about a particular weakness in their game or an opponent’s strength, and in doing so, they end up making the exact mistakes they were trying to avoid. Just like the cyclist who crashes after fixating on a pothole, a football team can derail its season by dwelling too much on potential pitfalls.
The key is to shift focus from what could go wrong to what needs to go right. For a cyclist, this means looking past the pothole to the clear path ahead. For a football team, it means concentrating on executing plays correctly rather than obsessing over potential errors. A team that spends too much time fixating on its flaws is like a biker staring down a pothole—it’s a recipe for disaster. Instead, players and coaches should direct their energy toward visualizing success and executing the fundamentals that lead to positive outcomes.
Take a look at our Nebraska Cornhuskers. When they play their best football, it’s not because they avoid mistakes at all costs; it’s because they focus on playing their game, trusting their preparation, and executing the fundamentals. Whether it’s a quarterback delivering a pinpoint pass or a defensive back sticking to his coverage, success comes from looking where you want to go, not where you don’t.
So, what’s the takeaway here? In both biking and football, you go where you look. A football team that’s always trying to avoid the next mistake will find itself tripping over those very errors. But a team that keeps its eyes on the path to victory, staying focused on execution and fundamentals, is more likely to steer clear of the pitfalls and find itself crossing the finish line first. The lesson is clear: Don’t stare at the potholes—find the path around them and ride on.
