I will never understand the constant excuses made for Ballard. This exercise has been done nearly every year under Ballard - “they are just a couple moves away from contention”. And every year Ballard does what Ballard does and the team under performs the talent level. QB play is a factor of course but it’s far from the only one or IMO even the most important one. Ballard has built a losing culture. 8 yrs in and that’s Ballards biggest mark on this team - he’s built and accepted a losing culture. Remember way back when he was cutting vets and selling building almost exclusively through the draft he downplayed the vets impact on culture by saying his coaches would establish the culture. Remember his military psychology specialist that was ensuring he was only drafting high quality winners? Remember his drafting keys (besides RAS) like team captain, multi year starter, senior bowl? This teams culture has been 100% selected and built by Ballard. It’s not a coincidence, it’s not bad luck. It is exactly what his methods build. And its a proven fucking loser. Give him another year. Give him 6 more. The results will always be the same- a team that under performs it’s supposed talent level. A team that lacks accountability and that lacks on field leadership will always underperform.
Cultivating a “next year” mentality in this team is Ballard’s biggest failure and will be his legacy. That half the fan base eats it up is just sad and why it’s allowed to continue. But I’m sure this time it’s right.
|