Payton's locker room presence

domedog316 said
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I don't consider us a contender that year although we were very competitive.....nobody had the book on Brooks yet and we benefitted greatly. Of course, that's JMHO.....I am drawing a sharp line between contender and competitive though.....it's all subjective!

Fair enough. Any way you choose to cut it, I agree with your principle point that the past 2 decades have been sorely lacking for the most part.

diat150 said
dont forget that our division was absolutely horrible, and the only team we beat with a winning record was the rams, who were a shell of their former self.

Wow, exagerate much ?

Our division absolutely horrible ? Our division was relatively comparable to the other 2 NFC divisions that season, certainly not enough difference to call it horrible:

http://www.jt-sw.com/football/pro/standings.nsf/Seasons/2000

And the Rams were hardly a "shell of their former self" -- they were by far the highest scoring team in the league that year, though I'll give you that their defense was down a bit from 1999.