What bugs me is that I bet if you flopped the schedule and took the first 8 games (STL, GB, CHI, DET, CIN, CAR, SF, DAL) and replaced them in order with the next 8 games coming up (AZ, SF, PIT, MIN, BAL, CLE, STL, AZ) we would be looking at a 13-3, 14-2 record. We just ran into an unlucky situation playing GB, CIN and CAR without our D clicking and still feeling the effects of the Kam holdout.
Had we gotten to ease into the season against Palmer, Kaep, Rothlis/Vick/Landry?, Bridgewater, Flacco instead of Foles, A-a-ron, Clausen (which we steam-rolled), Stafford, Dalton, and Newton — I don't think we would have seen the epic fails (especially the Dalton, Newton games) that we saw.
The guys we played against (except A-a-ron) are early season champs who don't play worth a $#!t when the games truly matter. That's why I think we'd have been so much better off this year had we faced Dalton, Cam, Foles, and even Stafford late season... our D would be clicking and they would be sucking.