They are a team filled with rookies and 2nd year players....how can anyone possibly expect them to be a SB contender? I'll say this....last nite the boys got their a$$ handed to them by a team that had to actually find a way to beat the RAMS in week 2. We were in a 1 score game until the last 9 minutes of yesterdays game.
This team has nothing but going up in their future, a tweak here and there and just the young guys growing together and learning the pro skill sets are what's left.....Game 5 in the books 2-3, could be 1-4, could be 4-1, heck could be 5-0. Point being they are all over the place, but at 2-3 I would consider them trending up in the near future.
They've played 4 out of 5 playoff teams thus far, 1 being a SB runner up and others being involved in Championship games....lost by 9 to the SB runner up and it was 1 1 score game for the better part of the game....played toe to toe with the whiners....beat the smack out of the hawks, threw away (literally) the bengals game, were throwing a shut out for a good bit with the colts. Done all this with 2 guys coming back on the D, a new ST group, and a new O-Line plan....
They have done all this with a basically no name D and a star WR out 4 games along with a new look O-Line and 2 stubborn a$$ RB's. IMO they are a head of schedule, but you need to keep in mind it's still a learning process going on.