With the curtains closed on the NFL regular season, it’s only a matter of time before the league reveals its major yearend awards. You know the names – Alexander, Barber, Brady, Saban, etc. But first, the Sun recognizes some of the best and worst achievements of the 2005 season that won’t win any official acknowledgement from the league.

BEST END TO A CAREER

Jerome Bettis, probably playing his last game in Pittsburgh, scored three touchdowns to help his Steelers beat the Detroit Lions and secure a spot in the playoffs. Bettis isn’t the Pro Bowl back he once was, but he’s still great near the goal line (he ran for nine touchdowns this season) and dependable with the ball in his hands (he never fumbled in 110 carries). Canton awaits the NFL’s fifth all-time rusher.

WORST NFL POLICY

The rule that prevents assistant coaches from interviewing for head coaching jobs until their teams’ season ends means assistants on the best teams are at a disadvantage when seeking a head coaching job. The longer the Giants last in the playoffs, the less likely defensive coordinator Tim Lewis is to get a chance to fill one of the NFL’s many coaching vacancies. Assistants on Super Bowl teams rarely get head coaching jobs because owners rarely wait until after the Super Bowl to hire a coach. The NFL should put a hiring freeze in place until after the Super Bowl so that every candidate gets a fair shake.

WORST ASSESSMENT OF A TEAM’S ABILITIES

After the Lions fired coach Steve Mariucci, cornerback Dre Bly said the problems in Detroit were because of “just one guy in particular”: quarterback Joey Harrington. When Harrington was benched following a Week 6 loss to Carolina, Bly and his teammates proved they had many more problems than just Harrington, losing five of the six games in which Jeff Garcia took most of the snaps.

WORST CALL

On December 21, the NFL told Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy that tackle Tarik Glenn was one of eight Colts selected to the AFC Pro Bowl squad. Several hours later, a league official called back to report that the votes had been miscounted, and Glenn had not made the team after all. “I’m a league guy, but this is a bad, bad situation,” Dungy said afterward.

MOST HYPOCRITICAL CRITICISM

Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Tice, who was fired Sunday, criticized Minnesota fans for selling their tickets to thousands of fans visiting from Pittsburgh, negating the team’s home-field advantage when the Vikings hosted the Steelers. This from the guy who was slapped with a $100,000 fine by the NFL for scalping Super Bowl tickets.

BEST USE OF QUIRKY RULES (tie)

On the last play of the first half of the Tennessee Titans’ game against Houston on October 9, the Texans punted. Titans coach Jeff Fisher told his returner to call for a fair catch so the Titans could take advantage of a rarely used rule that allows a team to try to kick a field goal after a fair catch even if the half has expired. Even though kicker Rob Bironas was short on the 58-yard attempt, it was a heads-up move by Fisher.

In Sunday’s season finale, Doug Flutie became the first player in 64 years to score using a drop kick, bouncing the ball off the ground and kicking it through the uprights for an extra point. Chicago’s Ray McLean was the last to do it, on December 21, 1941.

SADDEST WASTE OF TALENT

Darrell Russell, the former Raider who was one of the most talented defensive linemen the game has seen, died in a car crash on December 15 at age 29. Russell’s rare mix of power and speed made him the no. 2 overall pick in the 1997 draft and a two-time Pro Bowler, but his off-field problems, including a long battle with drug abuse, eclipsed his on-field accomplishments.

WORST OFF-DAY ACTIVITY

In November, Bears center Olin Kreutz broke teammate Fred Miller’s jaw as a visit to an FBI firing range ended in fisticuffs. The NFL fined each player $50,000 and the FBI conducted its own investigation. Miller initially told the team he broke his jaw in a fall in his home. When he finally came clean, he said, “Olin and I don’t have a problem with each other”- a surprisingly forgiving comment from a man with a steel plate in his jaw.

BEST GAMBLE

On November 6, Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil made the gutsy decision to hand the ball to Larry Johnson and go for a game-winning touchdown from the 1-yard line rather than an easy game-tying field goal, at the end of Kansas City’s game against the Oakland Raiders. Vermeil didn’t make the playoffs in his final NFL season, but that decision won the game and will earn him lasting respect from fans.

MOST CHAOTIC FRONT OFFICE

After leaving the Rams because of a heart infection, Mike Martz tried to have a hand in the team’s strategy by calling a team employee during a game and telling him to give a play to offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild. President of football operations Jay Zygmunt refused to allow the phone into the coaching booth. Martz was fired on Monday.

WORST WIDESPREAD PREDICTION

Many media commentators predicted that a 7-9 record would be good enough to win the NFC North. But the 11-5 Chicago Bears won the division, and the Minnesota Vikings finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs.

WORST SCOREKEEPER’S ERROR

The officials and the stadium clock manager botched the timing of the beginning of the fourth quarter of the Steelers-Patriots game on September 25, adding 52 seconds that the Patriots put to good use at the end of the game when Adam Vinatieri kicked the game winning 43-yard field goal with one second left.

Mr. Smith is a regular writer for FootballOutsiders.com.