Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

[MileHighGrowler]

(02-15-2022, 04:47 PM)Tomkat Wrote: Because "being better" sometimes isn't good enough.

You still need EVERY crucial break to go your way.  (team health, big plays, penalties, turnovers, etc)

THIS was the year that happened, until the Super Bowl.

Even Tom Brady with the Patriots went NINE YEARS without a Super Bowl appearance - it's just so difficult to make it.

The stars somehow aligned for the Bengals, this season, and they didn't take advantage.
They'll be GOOD going forward, for sure, probably consistently in the playoffs, winning division, etc
But, make it to the Super Bowl?  Eh, who knows... I'm not going to get my hopes up again.  Better to be pleasantly surprised.
I've done that for the last 51 years, why change now?

EDIT:  My heart says "half-full" - because I want to believe.  But, I'm a math, stat, logical type thinker, so my head says "half-empty."

I get that.  Completely.  But the big plays, penalties and turnovers come down to performance, so those are controllable elements.  Health, sure, that's always a wildcard.  

The NFL is set up to be hard to turn into a long-lasting dynasty.  If you build your team primarily through FA, the window is short and the funds disappear fast.  When you build through the draft and can plug players in via FA, you can have more longevity, and that's where I see the biggest upside for the Bengals right now.  Could they miss the mark next year?  Sure.  I just don't see them doing so the next 3 years in a row.  Somewhere in the near term they should absolutely be able to get back to this place.  

This year the Bengals lost to a team that put a lot of eggs into the FA basket.  They had a tight window.  They had to win this year.  And they just barely did.  I've been saying for weeks that next year is going to be hard.  They've got to slog through an entire season now without looking ahead to the big game they want to be back in.  They've got to keep focus no matter what.  It'll be a real test of the team.  Sure, when you're on the doorstep you want to take advantage.  But in terms of a resilient group with a very solid core, I think they're in remarkable shape compared to a lot of teams that make it to a SB.