Tank or Try and Win Out (4-6-1 Edition)

[incognito_man]

Just now, squire12 said:

less

fewer

[Gopher Trace]

I take back what I said. Tank hard baby.

[Spartacus]

Does anyone else think we don't have much of a choice but tank? With our current level of play I don't see us beating the Falcons, Lions, or Bears. The only real winnable game is probably the Jets. 

[snackattack]

35 minutes ago, Spartacus said:

Does anyone else think we don't have much of a choice but tank? With our current level of play I don't see us beating the Falcons, Lions, or Bears. The only real winnable game is probably the Jets. 

yes, we have another choice.  try to win every single time we step onto the field.  i get that this probably isn't a popular sentiment among fans who have absolutely nothing invested in the organization (cue the snarky shareholder comments), but a big part of being a successful organization is culture.  the season, for all intents and purposes, is over for us fans.  we can watch, not watch, cheer for winning, cheer for losing, etc. and it doesn't matter.  that isn't how it works with the guys in the organization.  when the organization tries to tank, it creates a loser culture.  in the midst of our worst season in a long time, we need to be careful to not create a loser culture.  perhaps the worst part of having a loser culture on a professional sports team is that you get every single person deciding for themselves how hard they want to play at any point in time, or when it is acceptable to accept defeat.

how do you win tight games or rebound from a tough loss when you have a loser culture?  how do you prevent one or several people on the team from reverting back to their loser mentality at any given time when the going gets tough?  is it only ok to think like a loser when you are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs?  good luck getting a hundred people in one organization all believing that there are only "acceptable" times to think like a loser and they have to put their health and jobs on the line at all other times.  all of these questions, and many more, make it really hard to have a consistent message throughout a season when its time to play the game.

preach winning.  especially at times like this and don't play anyone that gives you reason to believe they aren't trying to win.  that's a simple message.  we fired MM because he wasn't getting the job done, not because we wanted to lose every remaining game.  we wouldn't have changed anything if we wanted to lose every remaining game.

[Spartacus]

2 minutes ago, snackattack said:

yes, we have another choice.  try to win every single time we step onto the field.  i get that this probably isn't a popular sentiment among fans who have absolutely nothing invested in the organization (cue the snarky shareholder comments), but a big part of being a successful organization is culture.  the season, for all intents and purposes, is over for us fans.  we can watch, not watch, cheer for winning, cheer for losing, etc. and it doesn't matter.  that isn't how it works with the guys in the organization.  when the organization tries to tank, it creates a loser culture.  in the midst of our worst season in a long time, we need to be careful to not create a loser culture.  perhaps the worst part of having a loser culture on a professional sports team is that you get every single person deciding for themselves how hard they want to play at any point in time, or when it is acceptable to accept defeat.

how do you win tight games or rebound from a tough loss when you have a loser culture?  how do you prevent one or several people on the team from reverting back to their loser mentality at any given time when the going gets tough?  is it only ok to think like a loser when you are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs?  good luck getting a hundred people in one organization all believing that there are only "acceptable" times to think like a loser and they have to put their health and jobs on the line at all other times.  all of these questions, and many more, make it really hard to have a consistent message throughout a season when its time to play the game.

preach winning.  especially at times like this and don't play anyone that gives you reason to believe they aren't trying to win.  that's a simple message.  we fired MM because he wasn't getting the job done, not because we wanted to lose every remaining game.  we wouldn't have changed anything if we wanted to lose every remaining game.

I'm not saying to lose on purpose I just don't think they are good enough to win most of the upcoming games. 

[snackattack]

19 minutes ago, Spartacus said:

I'm not saying to lose on purpose I just don't think they are good enough to win most of the upcoming games. 

sorry, i've always thought the word "tank" in this context meant "trying to lose".  if we go out and fight every game, but end up losing every game, that's not what i consider "tanking".

i personally hope it plays out that way as a fan wanting a higher draft pick.  i just don't want our team to feel that way.  the distinction i'm trying to make is how we as fans feel versus what a similar mentality would mean for the guys in the organization.