My expectations for the season going in

[CJD]

For the first time in a while, I spent the day yesterday in the Gameday thread.
I don't normally spend my time there because I usually watch the game with my father and brother, both of whom happened to be out of town this weekend, so I don't typically watch the game with a computer on my lap. I spend it talking to them and eating pizza.

I enjoyed my time in there for the most part. I like seeing hot takes, immediate reactions to plays and commentary on the good and the bad plays as they occur. It's fun.

When we lost, I was mildly upset, mostly about the way we lost (a ticky tacky OPI that had already not been called on the Chargers earlier in the game negates our game winning touchdown and then a field goal is missed from basically point blank range. That hurts), but I was MOSTLY very pleased with the game. Our defense played well. Joe made some great passes. Our receivers were getting open and showing some moves in the secondary and Mixon had a good game. Even our Oline was better than I expected in the second half (the first half was a disaster).

That's why I was surprised when, in the game chat, there were a few people who seemed to...actually be heartbroken that we lost yesterday.  And also seemed to be, generally, not pleased with Burrow's performance.

And not your typical "I hate it when the Bengals lose" mood, but "I can't believe I actually believed in this team all off season" existential depression kind of stuff.

I was a bit caught off guard by it all. I felt like I was watching a different game than them.

But after thinking about it, I realized that that may be because of what my expectations were going into this season.

You see, I came into this season thinking "I wouldn't mind seeing winning football, but what I really want to see is our young defense and coaching staff continue to develop and, more importantly, see what it's like to have a real QB for the first time in over a decade."

I do not expect a super bowl win or even a playoff run this season. I didn't even expect to have a winning record. From my perspective, we are at the beginning of a rebuild, as teams often are when they start a rookie QB.

So, for someone with my expectations, yesterday's game gave me everything I wanted and more. We saw Joe being a great leader on the field. We saw him show poise and composure. We saw some of his pocket presence that Dalton so sorely lacked (even though it did result in 2 unnecessary sacks). We saw some pin point passes that Dalton could have never dreamed of completing. And we saw a defense that actually knew how to contain an offense. All week we were hearing about how Austin Eckler was going to destroy us in the passing game (he had 1 reception for 3 yards).

I just wanted to share my perspective on this season and yesterday's game. I know we all were hoping Burrow was going to immediately be Joe from college, but that was never a realistic expectation. He showed improvement from one drive to the next and, with the exception of a few gaffes, he had a pretty continuous upward curve as the game went on, ending in a fantastic drive that should have won us the game.

What are your guys' thoughts? Were you happy about the developments that occurred yesterday like I was? Or are you already getting ready to draft Trevor Lawrence with the number 1 overall pick next year because we're so bad, nothing has changed and we're doomed?