My friend and I were debating over which team would be next to experience a period of failure. Sadly, we both kind of agreed that our beloved Steelers seem to be headed on that road (although he felt that his faith would buoy the team to success.) I drew connections between now and Cowher’s early years, and how we recently have lost a lot of our stars to injury, free agency, or scandal, while getting nothing back in return, and key pieces are still weak, like the offensive line, d-backs, etc.
And the Buffalo Bills would come tantalizingly close to moving out, but then something would fall through and they’d end up right back in the same old apartment in downtown Suck.
A bottle of Bushmills single malt says the Steelers make the playoffs this year. If they win even as much as a single game while Ben is out for the first 4 weeks (it won’t be six) they’ll be just fine.
I think the Patriots are on their way down along with the Eagles, who will remember with fondness the McNabb era and wish they had him back.
Philly never treated McNabb right. If they do go down (I know nothing about Kolb,) they deserve it.
Pats though, I dunno. While their defense is extra-super-old, they might have enough offense to be respectable.
Steelers though, I don’t think they could even take 3rd in the division. Maybe 10-6 is possible with a LOT of luck and the defense hitting on all cylinders and staying healthy and salvaging a few wins while Ben is out (I think they need something like 2-2 or 3-3), they might still end up third in their division behind the Ravens and Bengals.
My prediction for the Steelers this year:
0-4, 1-3, or 2-4 while Ben is out.
Rashard, 2 of the O-linemen, and 5 of the starting defenders will miss at least half of the season each.
Mike Wallace will be no where near as good as Santonio Holmes.
Ike Taylor, Deshea Townsend and William Gay will continue to suck late in the game.
As a Bears fan, this could be just wishful thinking, but the Vikings could easily come in third place in the NFC North. Without Favre, their offense is average and they will need to rely on Adrian Peterson a lot more. If that happens, defenses will have an easier time defending the run without the threat of a strong passing game. Add to that an aging defensive line and a coach who has to reassert a team-first philosophy after catering to Favre all of last season and up until now, and Coach Childress (Or Brad, as favre likes to call him) has his work cut out for him this season.
Again, this may be wishful thinking on my part, but without Favre, it’s going to be a tough year for Minnesota.
Every year we hear about the newly acquired team mates that will make the team a contender. One realistic player said in camp that he predicts and would be happy with 8:8. That may be optimistic for a team winning two games in two years. Chance would suggest a few fluke games though. The Lions pretend that the other teams are standing still in their development.
Putting on a Lion’s uniform is like cutting Samson’s hair. All the ability leaves them.
I think the Lions are on an upswing. As long as calvin, stafford, smith stay healthy/effective, suh contributes, and new additions to the O-line pan out. Their management has been respectable since they got Millen out.
I agree, the Lions may field a pretty competitive team this season and can only get better moving forward since they are no longer drafting wide receivers in the first round every year.
I think the Cardinals may be headed that way, despite their division being weak. No more Boldin, no more Warner, 49ers on the upswing…could be interesting to see what they can do with their season.
As to the OP, I think the Tampa Bay Bucs will be one of the worst teams in the NFL this year. While I like what the Lions and Rams have done to try and get out of Suckville, I think the Bucs aren’t anywhere close to competing for .500 let alone the playoffs. I don’t like their franchise quarterback, their O Line does nothing for me, I love Cadillac’s story, but I haven’t seen the burst he used to have, and their receivers are all young. Their defense does nothing to scare me either, although it did improve as the season went on last year. The only thing that might help them out is their relatively easy division and a weak strength of schedule.
If the New Orleans Saints can win the Super Bowl, any franchise can.
My guess would be that the Bills are going to be terrible for a long time, though. It’s a fool’s game to try to project more than 1-2 years of performance based on the players, because players get hurt, surprise you, disappoint you, find a new steroid, a rookie comes out of nowhere and gets 11 sacks, and what have you. Rather, look the the MANAGEMENT to see where things are going. The Bills aren’t even committed to staying in Buffalo and don’t have any player or coaching direction that can be discerned.
I also think the Patriots could easily fall apart this year. All those draft picks, and not one spent on a running back? Only one DB drafted (1st rounder, though)? Old OL and DL? Could be trouble.
Denver’s fast start last year was a mirage. Without Brandon Marshall, why would they win more than 5 games this year?
I’m a Bills fan and I’ll have to say they are going to suck for at least a couple years. Drafting running backs when you have two solid young ones and more pressing needs in other areas isn’t going to help…
Any team could have a bad season here or there, bad as for franchises that are in danger of entering an extended period of suck, I think Carolina is a good bet. Maybe Arizona, also; they’re recent rise to competence is a real outlier for their franchise’s history. Perhaps they’ve turned things around in-house and now have a clue, but maybe they’re largely the same set of sad-sack buffoons who’ve temporarily stumbled into a good set of players.
It’s weird that the first contenders mentioned in this thread were the Steelers, Patriots, and Eagles – arguably the three best-run franchises in football. Falling into mediocrity for a time is possible, and an awful year here or there might happen, but an extended detour into the cellar? Seems really unlikely in the near future.