How bad do you think people are thinking? I get the feeling people see 7-9 or 8-8. Do you think better than that? I think they will be a little better, mostly on defense, but too many hurdles to be in the real hunt of the 9/10 win playoff teams. Beauty on the NFL is that even a 8-8 type team is usually in the hunt late into the season, so it makes for invested football viewing for most of the season. All those mediocre 8-8 Lovie years left us with only a couple games that didn't have playoff implications. Maybe if those 8-8 teams are battling for a bad division titles, but aren't most of the wild card winners 10 win teams? If you are actually an 8-8 team and aren't in a crappy division you may be technically in the race but it's usually behind multiple teams and with no real hope. Last year's AFC had four 9-7 teams that didn't qualify and the NFC had a 10 win team that I believe was eliminated before the final week. The year before there were six 8-8 teams that all missed the playoffs. If you are on the way to 8-8 your playoff implications depend heavily on stupid tie breakers that usually weed out most teams before the end anyway.