Playoffs

[MileHighGrowler]

(12-30-2021, 02:10 PM)fredtoast Wrote: All I can say is that fans who claim regular season wins don't matter are wrong.

It is 1000% more fun and exciting to be talking about playoff possibilities the last two weeks of the season instead of the draft, free agency, and replacing coaches.

I have not seen a single post from anyone saying "I don't care what happens the next two weeks.  Instead I am going to wait and see if we win a playoff game before I decide if I am excited."

This is a misrepresentation of that thought process.  Regular season wins 100% matter.  To everyone.  The argument that's been made (because I've made it as well) is that regular season wins ALONE don't mean anything.  You can go 16-0 during the regular season and lose in the first playoff game every year, thereby making those amazing records largely meaningless when you're looking at a team's/coach's success.  The regular is the (important) road to the playoffs and Super Bowl.  But ending it with the regular season, as exciting as the season might have been, is not reaching the pinnacle. 

For a team like the Bengals, the big question now is whether they can take regular season success and translate it to playoff wins.  Not just can they have a competitive game this Sunday, but have they made it?  Have they turned the corner?  Can they manage a stretch of games where every one of them is a must-win to keep advancing?  Tempered optimism and wanting to see the team actually prove after a 30-year famine they can feast on the playoffs is a totally fair measuring stick of the success of a team.