After watching Rams v Bengals...

@"purplefaithful" said: How you feeling about the Vikings? 

Me? I'm optimistic, but I see a lot of heavy lifting on the D side of the ball.

Might we have to take a step back in 22 in order to move ahead in 23???  There is a lot more to do than just improved personnel. 

On top of that the Rams have completley mortgaged their future to get the win. Had they not traded all their picks where would they be?

what would our record be the last two years had our defense kept teams under 30 points?

Dare I say four games better in ‘20 and ‘21.  This past year we gave up, what, TWO games we were leading by 14 points?

the Defense is what needs re-tooling 

Our offense is good enough to go the distance, but our defense is far from it. A scheme change will help, but we need some healthy additions from both the draft and FA. This draft is great for edge rushers, we could get a difference maker there. 

at least the defense can turn around faster with a youthful infusion.

The Rams sent a team, a stacked team, and won.  Stafford has always been good, but on a poor team.  He, and the Rams in general, show us important lessons.

Yes, the obvious first: Kirk and Stafford are very similar in style, stats, etc...and both are very good with a couple of seconds to work with.  The Lions have been a mess for ages and we haven't actually had a QB-centric offense since Favre (briefly) and since Culpepper before him.  Just the coaching upgrades, combined with some addressing of our OG/C play, should make a good group genuinely terrifying.

Defensively, the Rams have half of the talent in the NFC, and that will be a bigger fix.  Zimmer/Spielman somehow managed to spend a huge amount of money on players that would be hurt/ineffective and leave us with pretty scattered elements to build with.  I'm a huge fan of Harry, but he's a better field general than he is an open-field tackler, anymore.  Kendricks is amazing, but I'm not sure about any other remaining LBs.  The D-Line is a row of question marks, especially with Hunter possibly wanting out...and, honestly, what is his actual worth if he is truly fragile, now?

I don't pretend to have the answer to that.

Patrick Peterson is not an 8-digit corner, but at the right price I'd want him back.  In fact, the remaining secondary should be coachable, and that'd be an area I'd be interesting in drafting for.

Anyway, yeah, that's how I see it.  The Rams went all in, they can't really afford to keep everyone...but they got a ring.  I hope we find a way to get the title AND keep it sustainable for a good, long run.

What was obvious to me is something that never changes, it’s impossible to win anything with a pathetic OL. The grades for every Bengals OL was uhh, the worst ever in the super bowl? Lets get a guard or two

@"Hawkvike25" said: What was obvious to me is something that never changes, it’s impossible to win anything with a pathetic OL. The grades for every Bengals OL was uhh, the worst ever in the super bowl? Lets get a guard or two

@"Hawkvike25" said: What was obvious to me is something that never changes, it’s impossible to win anything with a pathetic OL. The grades for every Bengals OL was uhh, the worst ever in the super bowl? Lets get a guard or two

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"Hawkvike25" said: What was obvious to me is something that never changes, it’s impossible to win anything with a pathetic OL. The grades for every Bengals OL was uhh, the worst ever in the super bowl? Lets get a guard or two

And yet the Bengals were a last second drive from winning the game. Despite the Rams' obvious talent advantage on defense. 

@"purplefaithful" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"Hawkvike25" said: What was obvious to me is something that never changes, it’s impossible to win anything with a pathetic OL. The grades for every Bengals OL was uhh, the worst ever in the super bowl? Lets get a guard or two

And yet the Bengals were a last second drive from winning the game. Despite the Rams' obvious talent advantage on defense. 

This is why I dont know if I'll ever experience a SB win as a fan or not? I feel less confident now than before.

These teams are so closely matched and you're an injury or ball bouncing the wrong or right way to determine an outcome.  

Obviously you have to have the talent and scheme to maximize your talent. And while I would agree the Rams (on paper) had more talent, that game was close. No Higbee or OBJ leveled the playing field quite a bit too. 

Kinda like Rams vs Bills close - whomever had the ball at the end kinda thing. But then the Rams had a generational talent like Donald who really did make a difference on the last two plays. Not many teams have someone like that - ever. 

With such a level playing field in the league, luck and attrition just seem to play a more important role now vs 30 years ago.

Maybe its just my own jaded fan lens? 

Bengals’ HC Zac Taylor said QB Joe Burrow QB suffered and played through a sprained MCL during Super Bowl LVI.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 16, 2022