I know, I know, team is poorly coached, players are all busts, Loomis…

I want to point out that we still play in the NFC South.

We are currently 1.5 games back of first and .5 games back of 2nd… and there’s still 12 games to go.

This is still a relatively young team in a lot of places and is missing a handful of impact players at key positions. Getting healthy and “growing” as players and as a team could have them looking quite different in December, and given the division we’re in, we are likely to be in the hunt when December arrives.

We watched a team that never quit in Kellen last year and all gave credit to him for keeping the players engaged and playing hard, and we know he is a 2nd year head coach who still has a long way to go. Yes, the pattern of slow starts and lack of procedural discipline is alarming, and the lack of development/improvement on the OLine is even more concerning at least to me… BUT, this is still the same team that went toe-to-toe with Detroit and won in Baltimore and was being hailed as a scrappy “never say die” young team on the rise. A few KEY injuries and some bad luck has contributed to a slide, but I think it’s still premature to say this coach is no better than Dennis Allen and the season is lost. If we were in the NFC West, sure; but we’re in a very winnable division.

I think there’s still ample opportunity to get healthier, grow as players and as a team—learn how to win, and how to better prepare and simply coach better. This could still be a fun season to watch a young team win a crappy division and get playoff experience. Next offseason we’ll have real money to spend in free agency and likely solid draft capital to improve depth and add frontline talent.

We knew this would be a multi year rebuild. Let’s take a chill pill and recognize that in the NFL things can change quickly both ways and we can still watch a rebuilding team play meaningful football into November and December.

WHO DAT!?