"Improvement" vs. "fixing everything"

[TheBengalsMind]

(09-22-2019, 11:28 AM)fredtoast Wrote: I am not as down Zac as some here accuse me.  If you go back to when we hired him you will see.  Most of my concerns are about the staff, especially our DC.  I also feel the front offfice did not do enough to help Zac turn this around.  So I am not going to judge him too harshly this season.

However I do want to address one of the most common arguments I see from his supporters.  They say that there is no way he could "fix everythying" in his first year.  I agree with this, but say that even if he can't fix everything we should at least show some improvement from last year.  

So far we have looked better than I expected in one game and much worse in another.  It is impossible to decide anything based on just two games.  But as the season progresses I want to see some consistent improvement.  

I won't be happy if everything is not fixed this year, but as long as I see some improvement I will have a positive outlook for the future.

I agree that seeing improvement is key, but people have to give it time and stop taking things personally.

Take the 1978 San Francisco 49ers for instance they finished 2-14.

The offense was 25th in passing yards and 21st in rushing yards.

The defense was 18th in passing yards and 21st in rushing yards.

Here comes Bill Walsh in 1979, generally considered to be on the mount Rushmore of NFL coaches, and through his efforts takes that team to 2-14.

The offense was 3rd in passing yards and 20th in rushing yards.

The defense was 24th in passing yards and 15th in rushing yards. A defense that gave up 21 points a game, gave up 26 points a game in 1979.

They got better in a single category, passing the ball. They regressed in all other areas.

In 1980, through Bill Walsh's efforts they went 6-10, but had one single win against a winning team.

The offense was 5th in passing yards (including 26 tds and 27 ints) and 24th in rushing yards.

The defense was 27th in passing yards and 23rd in rushing yards.

They got worse in almost every single statistic. But they started to fight in games and they gave maximum effort. They got the dreadful "moral victories" and they were "in games until the end."

Then in 1981 everything clicked and a hell of a draft. 

They had had defensive back trouble the entire time he was there and he decided to draft not one, two, three, but four defensive backs.

Ronnie Lott, Eric Wright, Carlton Williamson and Lynn Thomas. He nailed those first 3 defensive back picks.

Then having addressed the issues his defense went to 3rd in passing yards and 12th in rushing yards. They gave up a 2nd best 15.6 points a game.

They went 13-3 and everything else is history.

The point being is that it took 3 years, for one of the four greatest coaches in NFL history, to turn the team around.

How they play, how much effort they give and how much they buy into Taylor is huge.