03-22-2017, 07:45 PM
(03-22-2017, 05:03 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Here is kind of an obscure loss that hit me really hard.
After three games of the '06 season we were 3-0 with huge road wins against the Chiefs (wildcard team that year), and the defending Super Bowl Champion Steelers. We had won 20 of our last 28 regular season games and Sports Illustarted had us ranked #1 in their power rankings. Palmer had made a miraculous recovery after some predicted that he would not even be ready to play by the start of '06. We seemed to be on top of the world. Then in week 4 the Patriots came into PBS and rolled us 38-13. Serious reality check. At that time watching that game hurt me more than the '05 playoff loss. Once Palmer went down I did not expect us to win, but I was confident we would be back next year contending for a championship. But that beat down by the Pats showed how overrated we really were.
Little did I know that after winning 20 of 28 regular season games we would fall off a cliff and only win 16 of our next 44.
We seemed to repeat history with the "we're on to Cincinnati" game. 3-0 (I think), media showing love, then we get smacked by the New England freight train. It sucked because I thought we stood a serious chance after beating them in 2013.
The training, nutrition, medicine, fitness, playbooks and rules evolve. The athlete does not.
