Gerry Butler sent me this cool graphic. It shows each team's win total from 2001 to 2007. He color coded season to season variations thus:
Green- Good Season immediately followed or preceded by a bad season
Yellow- Bad season immediately followed or preceded by a good season
Red- Bad season directly preceded by a good, then a bad, in that order. Signifies a downward spiral.
Gray- Anomalies to the trend in both good (NE) and bad (Arizona, Detroit, Houston)
With "Good" and "Bad" seasons defined as:
Good Season- 9 or more wins (or playoffs. Hard to determine with STL 2004)
Bad Season- 7 or less wins (8 wins if team won 11 or more games in the season preceding or following)
The ebb and flow of the NFL. Seattle will most likely end with two to four wins. Of the twenty five team seasons with four or fewer wins, fifteen finished the following season with a losing record, three ended at eight and eight and seven finished above five hundred. Only the 2004 Chargers won more than 10 games and only seven total won more than ten games in either of the next two seasons.
Seattle's last seven seasons have been special. Built on a well constructed offense and buttressed by a weak division. That run is over. Seattle is now building towards its next great team. That won't likely arrive in 2009. That won't likely arrive in 2010. Fans need to have a little faith. The NFL is cyclical.