If we lose on Sunday, will you consider this season to be a success?

[Sam Mills Fan]

Pros of this season (if we lose this weekend): 

- Went 11-5 a year after going 6-10

- Made the playoffs for the 4th time in 5 years, something I don't think we've appreciated enough

- After a slow start, McCaffrey has turned it on as of late and is exciting to think about going forward

- Beat the Patriots in Foxboro, Cam and Rivera are 2-0 against Brady and Belichick

- Funchess hasn't taken a huge step forward, but he's definitely taken A step forward

- If Byrd can stay healthy, he looks like he's going to be very very very good

 

Negatives of this season (if we lose this weekend):

- The defense regressed as the season went along. The only breakout defensive player was Julius Peppers, who probably has only one year left. I can't really point to any other defensive player as someone that took a step forward or looked better than I thought they were going to look

- Cam was incredibly, ridiculously inconsistent week-to-week. It's possible he peaked in 2015 and we'll never see that player again consistently

- The Saints hitting the trifecta sweep against us would be a bitter pill to swallow when it comes to offseason trash talk..

- ....As would losing our last 2 games of the year, against division rivals no less.

- Matt Kalil wasn't a complete disaster, but he definitely wasn't worth the contract we gave him

[Nails]

No.  Ring or bust at this point in franchise/regime history.  Obviously that’s unrealistic to expect every year, especially since we’ve yet to win our 1st, but when we have a former MVP and a core that’s one of few teams in league history to win 17 games in a season, that’s the measure of success now.

[therealmjl]

Not really.

But I also would say it’s possible we over achieved given our severe lack of weapons at the WR position.

[Peppers90 NC]

i think most people expected 10-11 wins so at least they met expectations this year. 

[t96]

No. Expectations need to be higher than a wildcard round exit. The 3 seasons before last year we made it to divisional round every year.

[dldove77]

Yes. We beat New England and got an extra game. So many fan bases would love to have just one of those two things. 

[rayzor]

i will be disappointed and frustrated until we get a ring.

i start off most seasons hoping for the best, but i've got that bar set in the only place it should ever be set...better than all the rest.

not better than the rest of our seasons. not better than crappy teams. not even better than the division.

just better than everyone.

[MVPccaffrey]

Setting the wheels in motion to get rid of our terrible owner, and his yes-man GM, means this season is a big success.  

[TheBiggerCat]

Without Samuel and Byrd I would still say it was a success.

If they had either one of those guys and lost I couldnt say it was a success.

Untimely injuries can really do you in.

[KendrickPanther]

It was a decent season marred by one off field fiasco after another. 

I was disapointed in Cam as a passer and pleasantly surprised as a runner. 

I was dissapointed in CMC as a runner and pleasantly surprised as a receiver. 

I was dissapointed in Samuel as a WR and pleasantly surprised by Byrd.

I was dissapointed by Shula, Hurney, Ron, and Jerry Richardson. 

Dissapointed to see Kelvin end his time here.

Pleasantly surprised by the return of Pepp.

Luke had a mediocre season imo.

The one thing you can say is we were treated to big matchups with big apposing QBs. We beat 5 playoff teams. 6 teams with winning records. There was plenty of competitive games to enjoy and frustrate us. 

It was a good season by any reasonable measure.

 

[Camp Fodder]

6 minutes ago, KendrickPanther said:

It was a decent season marred by one off field fiasco after another. 

I was disapointed in Cam as a passer and pleasantly surprised as a runner. 

I was dissapointed in CMC as a runner and pleasantly surprised as a receiver. 

I was dissapointed in Samuel as a WR and pleasantly surprised by Byrd.

I was dissapointed by Shula, Hurney, Ron, and Jerry Richardson. 

Dissapointed to see Kelvin end his time here.

Pleasantly surprised by the return of Pepp.

Luke had a mediocre season imo.

The one thing you can say is we were treated to big matchups with big apposing QBs. We beat 5 playoff teams. 6 teams with winning records. There was plenty of competitive games to enjoy and frustrate us. 

It was a good season by any reasonable measure.

 

We beat Vikings. Bills. New England and falcons. Who was the 5th team?

[FugAllY'all]

Absolutely. People forget that this season started with Cam undergoing shoulder surgery that he still hasn't fully recovered from. His arm just hasn't been the same this season which is why we haven't seen any of the deep balls we'd gotten used to. Combined that with Greg going on IR in week 2 and no one should have been expecting more than 6 wins this season. To get to 11 wins and make the playoffs against probably our toughest schedule in the Ron/Cam era is definitely a success. No question.

[CKI]

No.  

Whether this organization has accepted it or not, we are in "win now" mode.  Cam and Luke are veterans (and who knows when Luke's career might be over), TD is on his last legs, cant possibly expect much from Pepp/Charles Johnson anymore, and we have a 36 year old starting safety.  If we don't win a superbowl in the next 3ish years, we aren't going to for a long while.

[PntherPryd]

Losing to New Orleans a third time will be a bitter pill.  No way I count it as a success.