remember at the start of the year when we thought we could run it back with a better defense?
November 20, 2025
remember at the start of the year when we thought we could run it back with a better defense?
21 comments
I thought we all knew our D was gonna suck since we were paying our WR stars?
No?
Um, “run it back”? We were 9-8 last year. Why would we want to run that back?
That being said, we’d be lucky to hit 9-8 this year.
Remember when the defense was trash, and the Front Office convinced fans firing the “in demand” DC and replacing him with a college coach would fix everything?
On a related note, the Colts defense was ranked 29th last year now is up to 19th. Bengals dropped from 25th to 32nd.
I think everyone was of the mindset that the defense had to be “marginally better” to compete and make a run. Instead. we got historically awful
I had convinced myself that Golden could get minor improvements from some of our recent draft busts, and that along with our FA signings and rookies would be good enough to get us into the ‘bad but not awful’ tier of defenses. I was very wrong.
Meh, I’d say it was more of a “Hope for the best, but expect the worst” type of scenario
People thought a different defensive coordinator would magically fix our defense that added no one…
“with another year of experience, maybe these young guys will look better!” – us, right around next year’s training camp
Trey’s health didn’t help.
No excuse for allllllllllll the shittiness…. but Trey, as a closer, probably wins the Jets/Bears games.
We had to convince ourselves to understand the plan the team laid out. We didn’t have options
In a lot of people’s defense …. Many said it was going to be shit and got yelled at for being doomers .
I was optimistic-ish , shame on me. I’ve always been on the fire Duke train though. He is god awful
I seem to recall even from preseason games knowing this defense would be booty
Lmao yea
I knew we were banking too much on coaching being the issue. It was hard for me to believe it wasn’t also a major issue with who we have on the field. How did a defense as clutch as the ’21 and ’22 defenses suddenly get so bad? It couldn’t have all been on Lou. It’s obvious he had too little to work with.
I remember not thinking that actually
I was never in this mindset. Are defense arguably got worse, I was told to go be a doomer elsewhere.
My realistic expectation was somewhere around #24 in points/game. I thought that a new coordinator would correct the mental errors that plagued last year’s defense; that even if the talent wasn’t upgraded, at least the defense wouldn’t be self-destructing.
Instead, we get to witness self-immolation
I mean week 1 & 2, the defense was serviceable too. Being so young, only thought that they would get better and may be a top 15 by the end of the year … then we dropped off a cliff directly to last. 🤦🏻
It felt like everyone was bitter against Trey and saying, “the defense was bad with him, we cant get worse without him.”
I got downvoted everytime I called these comments out.
Nope. Never thought for a second a year one defensive rebuild would hit. Predicted 9-8 again with a healthy Burrow.
21 comments
I thought we all knew our D was gonna suck since we were paying our WR stars?
No?
Um, “run it back”? We were 9-8 last year. Why would we want to run that back?
That being said, we’d be lucky to hit 9-8 this year.
Remember when the defense was trash, and the Front Office convinced fans firing the “in demand” DC and replacing him with a college coach would fix everything?
On a related note, the Colts defense was ranked 29th last year now is up to 19th. Bengals dropped from 25th to 32nd.
[https://www.foxsports.com/articles/nfl/2024-nfl-defense-rankings-team-pass-and-rush-stats](https://www.foxsports.com/articles/nfl/2024-nfl-defense-rankings-team-pass-and-rush-stats)
[https://www.foxsports.com/articles/nfl/2025-nfl-defense-rankings-team-pass-and-rush-stats](https://www.foxsports.com/articles/nfl/2025-nfl-defense-rankings-team-pass-and-rush-stats)
I think everyone was of the mindset that the defense had to be “marginally better” to compete and make a run. Instead. we got historically awful
I had convinced myself that Golden could get minor improvements from some of our recent draft busts, and that along with our FA signings and rookies would be good enough to get us into the ‘bad but not awful’ tier of defenses. I was very wrong.
Meh, I’d say it was more of a “Hope for the best, but expect the worst” type of scenario
People thought a different defensive coordinator would magically fix our defense that added no one…
“with another year of experience, maybe these young guys will look better!” – us, right around next year’s training camp
Trey’s health didn’t help.
No excuse for allllllllllll the shittiness…. but Trey, as a closer, probably wins the Jets/Bears games.
We had to convince ourselves to understand the plan the team laid out. We didn’t have options
In a lot of people’s defense …. Many said it was going to be shit and got yelled at for being doomers .
I was optimistic-ish , shame on me. I’ve always been on the fire Duke train though. He is god awful
I seem to recall even from preseason games knowing this defense would be booty
Lmao yea
I knew we were banking too much on coaching being the issue. It was hard for me to believe it wasn’t also a major issue with who we have on the field. How did a defense as clutch as the ’21 and ’22 defenses suddenly get so bad? It couldn’t have all been on Lou. It’s obvious he had too little to work with.
I remember not thinking that actually
I was never in this mindset. Are defense arguably got worse, I was told to go be a doomer elsewhere.
My realistic expectation was somewhere around #24 in points/game. I thought that a new coordinator would correct the mental errors that plagued last year’s defense; that even if the talent wasn’t upgraded, at least the defense wouldn’t be self-destructing.
Instead, we get to witness self-immolation
I mean week 1 & 2, the defense was serviceable too. Being so young, only thought that they would get better and may be a top 15 by the end of the year … then we dropped off a cliff directly to last. 🤦🏻
It felt like everyone was bitter against Trey and saying, “the defense was bad with him, we cant get worse without him.”
I got downvoted everytime I called these comments out.
Nope. Never thought for a second a year one defensive rebuild would hit. Predicted 9-8 again with a healthy Burrow.