Our 2015 season was the mother of all anomalies

[Sam Mills Fan]

Because of how tough the NFC is looking this year, it looks ever more likely that we're going to miss the playoffs yet again, which will mean we'll have to wait until at least 2020 to win another playoff game, a drought of 5 years. It means that the earliest we could celebrate back-to-back winning seasons in our franchise's history will be 2021 in Year 27 of our existence. And it will mean that, 9 seasons into the Ron Rivera experience, there will be exactly one year where we won a playoff game against a non-Ryan Lindley quarterback.

So thinking back...what the hell happened in 2015? How were we so good then and how did that not translate into sustained success? We're talking about one of the *best seasons in NFL history* that was preceded by a losing season and followed by 6-10, a wild card berth only to get triple swept by the Saints, 7-9, and probably another year missing the playoffs. It's making the insane season from 2015 stick out like a sore thumb.

Can we ever have a season approaching 2015 again with Ron Rivera?

[Jon Snow]

Simple answer is no.  2015 was a fluke and that team was more cohesive as a group.  

[PanthersNC1984]

Coaching shelf life. Coaches have expiration dates in this league, sure you have the rare exceptions like the Bellichecks, Cowhers of the world who can just keep winning and winning and winning.

But typically NFL coaches have a shelf life of about 5-6 years before it just gets stale, they lose their drive and desire and it’s time move on. Ron’s shelf life expired in 2016 and we have been putting up with the rotten stench of leaving it in the fridge now for the last three years and not tossing it.

[thefuzz]

Flukey sport.

Falcons that lost the SB scored 540 points that season, closest points before that for them was 419.

Chargers go 12-4 in Rivers' first season and it looks like the AFC has a new front runner, never makes it past the divisional round in his career after.

2015 was one of the worst things for this franchise, said it back then, still saying it now.

[Sam Mills Fan]

By the way, I know it sucks that we'll probably have to wait until Year 27 (at least) for back-to-back winning seasons, but I just checked and the Falcons didn't hit that mark until Year *44*.

[Khyber53]

I'm not giving up on 2019 yet. Sad to see y'all doing it already. Some folks just don't have any grit.

[ColumbusCounty]

Superbowl hangover...

That and the total reboot we had in the secondary... 

At one point we had Worley, Bradberry, Sanchez, Kurt Coleman(the bad version), Tre Boston (the bad version) ...

On Offense: Benjamin (who became lazy as the season went on)...IIRC, thats the season that Cam injured his shoulder initially after Kelvin gave up on tackling the defender.  We did have Ginn though. 

Upfront we lost Oher... so we played Remmers in his place. Then Ryan got hurt. 

Our Defensive Ends were Wes Horton and Charles Johnson (after the decline) and Kony Ealy. 

Yup ...that about answers it 

 

[Sam Mills Fan]

Just now, Khyber53 said:

I'm not giving up on 2019 yet. Sad to see y'all doing it already. Some folks just don't have any grit.

My logic is that a good team can bounce back from bad losses, but teams that get utterly brutalized like we did in San Francisco hardly ever make the playoffs.

[Matt62881]

10 minutes ago, Sam Mills Fan said:

Because of how tough the NFC is looking this year, it looks ever more likely that we're going to miss the playoffs yet again, which will mean we'll have to wait until at least 2020 to win another playoff game, a drought of 5 years. It means that the earliest we could celebrate back-to-back winning seasons in our franchise's history will be 2021 in Year 27 of our existence. And it will mean that, 9 seasons into the Ron Rivera experience, there will be exactly one year where we won a playoff game against a non-Ryan Lindley quarterback.

So thinking back...what the hell happened in 2015? How were we so good then and how did that not translate into sustained success? We're talking about one of the *best seasons in NFL history* that was preceded by a losing season and followed by 6-10, a wild card berth only to get triple swept by the Saints, 7-9, and probably another year missing the playoffs. It's making the insane season from 2015 stick out like a sore thumb.

Can we ever have a season approaching 2015 again with Ron Rivera?

We had a healthy Cam for one and for two we had fun the whole season. We won a stretch of brutal games because we came out every gsme like it was the playoffs. The year followed by a deflating loss to the team that beat us in thr SB who head hunted Cam throughout. Cam has not been 100% since wich is why im so hyped for his return and the fun he brings to the team and game. I expect him to run smartly but just as much as 15. I feel like we actually have a better roster then 15 we just have to bring the emotion out in it.

[Sean Payton's Vicodin]

2015 team had one of the easiest SOS in NFL history. Also, teams hadn't realized that they could just obliterate Cam outside the pocket. Super Cam died in the SB, he hasnt been Super since.

[Khyber53]

4 minutes ago, Sam Mills Fan said:

My logic is that a good team can bounce back from bad losses, but teams that get utterly brutalized like we did in San Francisco hardly ever make the playoffs.

It all depends on how the team comes back from it. If they allow it to break them, then its going to be tough. If they rise to the occasion and put it behind them, there's a lot of rough, but workable road ahead.

[ellis]

That team thrived on turnovers, field position, and one of the best quarterback seasons of the decade.

+20 turnover ratio

+867yd rushing differential 

2.4 pts per drive (led league) 

42.9% of all drives led to points (2nd in league)

 

 

[Car123]

5 minutes ago, Sean Payton's Vicodin said:

2015 team had one of the easiest SOS in NFL history. Also, teams hadn't realized that they could just obliterate Cam outside the pocket. Super Cam died in the SB, he hasnt been Super since.

We obliterated the 2nd best team in the conference championship.

[Forty-Eight]

Bc we have a HC that just want to be good enough but not great. Every chance he had to be great, he revert back to helping his friends and being loyal to players. It fails almost every time