All in all, I’m not even mad. Good season for our boys and good season for us.

[SCMunnerlyn1]

And also God yes on going back to the 4-3. Most teams base defense at this point is nickle or multiple anyhow but I've never been a fan of a 3-4 setup. 

[Bear Hands]

57 minutes ago, TylerDurden said:

I still don’t know what to think of Canales.  I do know that I feel kind of bad because even with that competitive of a game he just coached and how proud I felt of our team, even during the game I was thinking, “I wonder if Tepper would consider firing him if Harbaugh was willing to come here?”  Also, we still don’t know what Tepper’s relationship was with Tomlin, as some have said he may have been the minority owner who tried to hold a coup to get Tomlin out of Shittsburgh, but there was also the rumor that if Tomlin was available, Tepper wanted him here.  So, I also wonder if Tomlin does indeed leave Pittsburgh, would Tepper dump Canales to go get him?

I know I wouldn’t be upset at all if we dropped Canales for either of them.  Also, not a fan of Izdik for whatever he does either.

I view Canales as a good coach in the day-to-day, practice lead capacity. 

Big issue is that his overall approach (especially his run game), playbook and playcalling can leave a lot to be desired. He definitely tailors to a rhythm offense needing a finesse zone RB. 

I still think he has potential but he needs to get someone instead of his buddy Brad to help steer the vision on offense.

They went a little too hard on the late-2010s SEA emulation when that wasn’t even the best version of Pete’s regime. 

[Castavar]

7 minutes ago, TylerDurden said:

While I agree and share the sentiment, I feel that a lot more post-our Super Bowl runs.  I didn’t want to get too Debbie Downer in my initial post, but I’ve said elsewhere here before ad nasueam, and it’s why I get so frustrated with the “well, there’s always next year” crowd, because football is the sport that requires the greatest investment of time, energy, resources for the smallest return.  Basketball is 15 guys, 82 games.  Baseball is 26 guys for 162 games.  Football is 53 guys for 17 games.  It’s not even close.  You wait about 9 months for 3 months, which either culminates in an entire year of fandom feeling like a complete waste and an exercise in masochistic agony, or complete and utter bliss.  Rarely anywhere in between.  And the offseason always feels so much longer than the active season.  When you really think about it, the reward is not worth the investment UNLESS you win it all.  And each time we got to the Super Bowl and as soon as I knew we lost, my first thought was “damn, I don’t know if we’ll ever get this chance again.”  And further to that point, again, I was trying to focus on the positives, but the number of fans even just here at the huddle who have passed from season to season and never got to see that “next season…”  it just sucks.  It’s why, much like life, you have to really savor living in the moment and in football, you REALLY have to hope your team has their poo together every year.  It’s why that go-him, conservative las
 

All that being said, it’s why that laissez faire approach to fandom has always pissed me off and I don’t have any patience for it.  Carpe fuging diem.  Every day.  Every year.  My cousin was a huge Panthers fan too.  He was 36 in 2024, had a dull ache in his stomach for a couple weeks, went to the ER to get it checked out thinking he just had an upset stomach, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died within 5 months or so of his diagnosis.  His sister, my other cousin, now lives in GA, and even she posted how excited he would’ve been to see us beat the Falcons like we did this season.  
 

And for all of those reasons,  despite my criticisms, I’m proud of our team.  I always hope for the playoffs but did not expect us to actually make them considering the cold streak we’ve been in for the last 8 years.  At times, it felt like we’d never be back. And as I said, the Super Bowl losses really depressed me because all I could think of was that time investment.  All of those players.  All of those months.  All of those battles.  And you get as far as you can possibly get to stretch out a season and to lose is complete agony, because if you don’t win it all, you may as well have never made it out of the wild card.  So now, my goal is the playoffs every year.  It really always has been.  If we can do that, we are competitive and always have a chance to make a run.  That doesn’t seem as far away as the Super Bowl… so in this case, where we were playing with house money in a position may felt we shouldn’t have even been in in the first place, we showed up and competed.  Now we just need to build off of this and I’m happy because if it was just making the playoffs this year, getting better means winning in the playoffs next year.  That’s the goal.  So, while I’m not taking it for granted, I’m believing that will be the case.

First off, sorry to hear that about your cousin man. That is terrible.

And everything you said is spot on. I just see it way too many times, teams that LOOK like they are building something great........thinking their great season and progression will continue into next year, only to come falling back down to Earth. Falcons after their superbowl, us after our superbowl, Bengals after theirs, hell even the Lions have fell back down to Earth. I feel like they also wasted a golden opportunity. 

We had an opportunity to only be 2 wins from a superbowl, and today was as good as any chance to come away with a win. It was indeed a wasted opportunity no matter how much heart we showed, because next year we could very well end up going right back down to the dweller. 

Am I happy we finally played some meaningful football this year? Of course, but to be happy just because we didn't embarrass ourselves is setting the bar EXTRA low, especially since we SHOULD have won that game. 

[TylerDurden]

Just now, Bear Hands said:

I view Canales as a good coach in the day-to-day, practice lead capacity. 

Big issue is that his overall approach (especially his run game), playbook and playcalling can leave a lot to be desired. He definitely tailors to a rhythm offense needing a finesse zone RB. 

I still think he has potential but he needs to get someone instead of his buddy Brad to help steer the vision on offense.

They went a little too hard on the late-2010s SEA emulation when that wasn’t even the best version of Pete’s regime. 

Yeah, I really feel like Izdik is, for lack of a better term, dead weight with the current setup as-is.  I think Dave needs someone to help balance his game day inclinations.  Again, someone suggested bringing in McDaniels as OC and I would love that, not just because I think he’s an incredible offensive mind, but because he also now has the experience as a HC to help with game management.  But again, I can’t fathom a scenario where Dave would agree to that unless he was forced à la And Rivera being forced to fire Washington - and I don’t think ownership is there with Dave.

[PleaseCutStewart]

Happy that we competed well today. That being said, we went 8-9 with 6 wins by 3 points. That is not sustainable and I'm worried we revert back to a 3-6 win team next year

Edited 8 hours ago by PleaseCutStewart

[TylerDurden]

3 minutes ago, Castavar said:

First off, sorry to hear that about your cousin man. That is terrible.

And everything you said is spot on. I just see it way too many times, teams that LOOK like they are building something great........thinking their great season and progression will continue into next year, only to come falling back down to Earth. Falcons after their superbowl, us after our superbowl, Bengals after theirs, hell even the Lions have fell back down to Earth. I feel like they also wasted a golden opportunity. 

We had an opportunity to only be 2 wins from a superbowl, and today was as good as any chance to come away with a win. It was indeed a wasted opportunity no matter how much heart we showed, because next year we could very well end up going right back down to the dweller. 

Am I happy we finally played some meaningful football this year? Of course, but to be happy just because we didn't embarrass ourselves is setting the bar EXTRA low, especially since we SHOULD have won that game. 

I appreciate that, brother.  He was a great man!  fug cancer.

And I agree.  Again, seize the day is and should always be the mentality.  We had them on the ropes and Evero went into pussy mode and blew it.  If we won today, I feel we were going on a run.  I even halfway called what Bryce was gonna do in previous posts despite being one of his biggest critics - a magical showing in the playoffs.  That was how we have wanted him to play since day one (minus that last possession lol) and we would have almost no complaints.  And his and the offense’s efforts were wasted.  And all things considered, if you’re not first, you’re last.  And just as I said in the years we lost the Super Bowl, that was so deflating because the climb to get back there, we knew it was gonna be so exhausting and especially in 2016, I think that team struggled because they knew how hard it was to do it in 2015.  That journey is so long…  and even harder to make again after you feel it was ripped away from you the first time unfairly.  And at that point, if you make it that far x you kind of wish you had just lost all year.  Same thing here.  I DESPISE losing, but I’d rather have a top draft pick if I knew I’d be sitting at home with all of the losers anyway.  BUT, I don’t know.  I have a good feeling about where we’re going now.  It feels different than any other season we’ve lost in the playoffs.

[TylerDurden]

6 minutes ago, PleaseCutStewart said:

Happy that we competed well today. That being said, we went 8-9 with 6 wins by 4 points. That is not sustainable and I'm worried we revert back to a 3-6 win team next year

I think with the changes I mentioned, we do not revert.  We barely won and finished with a losing record because the most impactful position on the team was wildly inconsistent.  We shore that up with a Jameis, Willis, Lance, a Chambliss… we’re golden.