Sunday predictions.

[Thorgrim]

Colts 27 fins 20

[Colts And Orioles]

Originally Posted by Hoopsdoc

That season wasn’t actually that bad because we knew it meant Andrew Luck. I’d rather be extraordinarily bad than mediocre.

o


I'm glad that we got Luck, but I never play that game. I'm not a "sophisticated" fan, in a proverbial sense.

And I'd rather be mediocre than bad, just like I would rather be good than mediocre, and I'd rather be great than good.

o

[Voosh]

Originally Posted by Hoopsdoc

That season wasn’t actually that bad because we knew it meant Andrew Luck. I’d rather be extraordinarily bad than mediocre.

I watched every game of the Suck for Luck season. It was a different time...

[Dam8610]

Originally Posted by Colts And Orioles

o


I'm glad that we got Luck, but I never play that game. I'm not a "sophisticated" fan, in a proverbial sense.

And I'd rather be mediocre than bad, just like I would rather be good than mediocre, and I'd rather be great than good.

o

Honestly, for me, mediocre is the last place I want the Colts to be. Championship favorite, Division champion that has a chance to contend for a championship, Top 5 pick bad, Top 10 pick bad, and mediocre would be my order of preference of the state of the franchise. Mediocrity is a self-perpetuating state of irrelevance. Being at either extreme will get you to the other extreme quicker than being mediocre.

[Colts And Orioles]

Originally Posted by Dam8610

Honestly, for me, mediocre is the last place I want the Colts to be. Championship favorite, Division champion that has a chance to contend for a championship, Top 5 pick bad, Top 10 pick bad, and mediocre would be my order of preference of the state of the franchise. Mediocrity is a self-perpetuating state of irrelevance. Being at either extreme will get you to the other extreme quicker than being mediocre.

o


"Badness" does not necessarily soon evolve into "goodness."

The Colts went 4-12-1 in 2022, and the went 9-8 and then 8-9 over their next 2 seasons.

The Detroit Lions went 2-14, 3-13, 5-11, 6-10, 5-11, 6-10 3-13, 7-9, 0-16, 2-14, and 6-10 for 10 consecutive seasons between 2001 and 2010 before finally breaking through for a winning season and a playoff berth in 2011 with a 10-6 record ...... and promptly followed that with 2 more bad seasons in 2012 (4-12) and 2013 (3-13.)

The Cleveland Browns went 5-11, 5-11, 4-12, 5-11, 4-12, 7-9, 3-13, 1-15, 0-16, 7-8-1, and 0-16 between 2011 and 2017 ...... that was 7 straight seasons in which they were bad for 5 out of the 7 with 2 mediocre season (7-9 in 2015 and 7-8-1 in 2016) sandwiched in there ...... then they had 2 mediocre seasons in 2018 and 2019 (7-8-1, and 6-10) before finally breaking through with an 11-5 season and a playoff berth in 2020.

The Kansas City Chiefs had 3 bad seasons in a row from 2007 through 2009 (4-12, 2-14, and 4-12.) They did follow that with good season in 2010 (10-6), but dropped back down to mediocrity in 2011 (7-9), and then badness in 2012 (2-14.)


Yes, there are examples in which terrible teams subsequently wound up drafting a great player who almost single-handedly turned a franchise around (Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck), but there are many other examples throughout football history that are contrary to that ...... so like I said, the equation is simple for me ...... I'd rather be mediocre than be bad, I'd rather be good than mediocre, and I'd rather be great than good. I was unhappy with the Colts' mediocre 9-8 season in 2023 when they were one completed pass away from winning the division, but I was a lot less happy with their 4-12-1 record the season before.

o

[YDFL Commish]

Originally Posted by Colts And Orioles

o


I could never boycott the Colts, the Orioles, or the Bullets (Wizards.)

I kept watching (and rooting) for the Colts after they started the 2011 season at 0-13, and were losing games by a scores of 62-7 and 34-7. When I see those blue horseshoes on the helmets that they wear, there is nothing unwatchable about it for me.

o

I too am diehard Colts, Orioles, Bullets/Wizards fan. It has been a painful 30 plus years for the latter two.

[Kray007]

Game 1’s are always odd. Preseason games are a farce, and teams enter the season entirely unprepared to compete in real games. Funny things happen, like Kansas City losing to the Chargers.

I make the assumption that, no matter how accomplished, it’s going to take a couple of games for the Defensive backfield to coalesce into a effective unit.

Dolphins 24-Colts 21.

[Dam8610]

Originally Posted by Colts And Orioles

o


"Badness" does not necessarily soon evolve into "goodness."

The Colts went 4-12-1 in 2022, and the went 9-8 and then 8-9 over their next 2 seasons.

The Detroit Lions went 2-14, 3-13, 5-11, 6-10, 5-11, 6-10 3-13, 7-9, 0-16, 2-14, and 6-10 for 10 consecutive seasons between 2001 and 2010 before finally breaking through for a winning season and a playoff berth in 2011 with a 10-6 record ...... and promptly followed that with 2 more bad seasons in 2012 (4-12) and 2013 (3-13.)

The Cleveland Browns went 5-11, 5-11, 4-12, 5-11, 4-12, 7-9, 3-13, 1-15, 0-16, 7-8-1, and 0-16 between 2011 and 2017 ...... that was 7 straight seasons in which they were bad for 5 out of the 7 with 2 mediocre season (7-9 in 2015 and 7-8-1 in 2016) sandwiched in there ...... then they had 2 mediocre seasons in 2018 and 2019 (7-8-1, and 6-10) before finally breaking through with an 11-5 season and a playoff berth in 2020.

The Kansas City Chiefs had 3 bad seasons in a row from 2007 through 2009 (4-12, 2-14, and 4-12.) They did follow that with good season in 2010 (10-6), but dropped back down to mediocrity in 2011 (7-9), and then badness in 2012 (2-14.)


Yes, there are examples in which terrible teams subsequently wound up drafting a great player who almost single-handedly turned a franchise around (Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck), but there are many other examples throughout football history that are contrary to that ...... so like I said, the equation is simple for me ...... I'd rather be mediocre than be bad, I'd rather be good than mediocre, and I'd rather be great than good. I was unhappy with the Colts' mediocre 9-8 season in 2023 when they were one completed pass away from winning the division, but I was a lot less happy with their 4-12-1 record the season before.

o

In football, if you have people who evaluate talent well, being bad is the ticket to getting good. 49ers are a great example. They had Jimmy Garrapolo go down one year, they were bad enough to get the #2 pick, that got them Nick Bosa, and they were in the Super Bowl either the next year or the year after, I believe. They also lucked into their QB solution. I wish another Purdy would come along and the Colts would draft him.

[Colts And Orioles]

Originally Posted by Dam8610

In football, if you have people who evaluate talent well, being bad is the ticket to getting good.

o


I just gave you numerous examples to the contrary. You can believe whatever you want to believe, and root for the Colts however you want to root for the Colts.

o

[Dam8610]

Originally Posted by Colts And Orioles

o


I just gave you numerous examples to the contrary. You can believe whatever you want to believe, and root for the Colts however you want to root for the Colts.

o

You gave me examples of teams that had little patience, cycled through GMs and head coaches like they were the latest fashion trends, and therefore had no organizational consistency and continued to be bad because of it. The successful organizations don't do this.

Let me use your examples. The Lions finally got themselves out of the carousel of bad not when they got their Franchise QB, because they had Stafford for a decade, but when they finally committed to a GM and Head Coach, who then promptly built an organizational structure and culture, and the Lions have been contending for nearly a half decade with a QB another organization effectively gave up on.

The exact same thing happened with the Chiefs. They hired Dorsey and Reid, committed to them long term, they've won 3 championships as a result, and the only reason John Dorsey isn't still their GM is because he took a big payday to go fail with the Browns.

Speaking of the Browns, they are the only organization of the 3 that you brought up that has not committed to a GM and Head Coach for greater than 3 years, and, (not so) shockingly, they're the only organization of the three that hasn't been able to find any level of consistent success.

Of course I don't want the organization to be incompetent like Jimmy Haslam's operation, but since Carlie Irsay-Gordon is a third generation NFL owner, I'm sure she's smart enough to see how good organizations operate, and how bad organizations operate. So, assuming that is the case, I don't think she's going to go fire crazy and not allow there to be any consistent organizational structure or culture. If that's the case, then being terrible will get you to be competitive much faster than being mediocre will.