and Jamal this year, I think a lot of us would have predicted 8-5 or even 7-6 given the brutality of the early schedule and given the overall strength of the schedule. Heck, many of us were thinking 8-5 WITH Taysom and Jamal, particularly because most of us didn't see us doing any better than 2-2 to start the year. Our hot start and overall strong play those first few weeks really cranked up expectations, but the truth is that we have a very inexperienced QB, and that's always a recipe for a mediocre season. Tanner may well be special enough to overcome his inexperience and do better than 8-5, but we probably shouldn't expect it.

Next year, 8-5 would seriously be a very good season. That's a BRUTAL schedule next year. This year isn't quite as tough, but it's good enough that 8-5 should be seen as a bit of a step up over what happened the last few years.