And in that sense, maybe the thing to do is go for the over. Not with your life savings, of course, but a team that seems to alternate between very good and very bad might not be a bad bet for "mediocre or better".indianation65 wrote:Laughs abounding...nobody knows how any team will fare before a season starts. It's takes 4-6 games to really know anything. Who would have imagined Houston's last two seasons?
...wisdom
The caveat is that the team could go 0-16 next year. I frankly think the odds are better for the Pack to go 0-16 - just one injury to Rodgers and they struggle to beat even bad teams (us?) at home. But you look at last year's vikings with 5.5 wins and add just Cassel and I think we are at 7 wins. Just the Josh Freeman game gets us to 6.5 wins alone.
Where we are worse:
Lost Allen and Williams - both midling quality starters now that they are at the end of their career.
Peterson another year older.
Greenway another year older.
Robison another year older (wrong side of 30 now).
Jennings another year older.
Where we are better:
Nearly every other starter is in their mid-20's, and therefore another year better (O-Line, Rudolph, Patterson, Wright + Smith, Rhodes, Griffen, Floyd, and others on defense).
The aforementioned Cassel (ignoring Bridgewater, as he's unknowable at this time).
Linval Joseph is a huge upgrade.
Norv Turner is a huge upgrade over any other OC we could have.
Zimmer is a huge upgrade over any other defensive coach we could have.
What we can't predict at all:
Continue to lose so many close games (the games they won in 2012 - tends to average out)?
Lose Peterson for part of the season again?
Lose all four staring DB's for part of the season again?
Lose Rudolph for half the season again?
Keep those guys healthy, and lose different ones?
With no injuries, I think we're looking at the edge of the playoffs (9 or 10 wins). But that's not going to happen (like, except when Green Bay won their last Superbowl, when they lost no player to injury on defense the whole year).
