Nah ...Payton was dead wrong. After 2013 he wanted to change to Seattle type defense. Signed Jaruis Byrd. Then drafted Batiste in the second round, which I was high on myself. He thought he got like a Brandon Browner corner. Big, tall and physical. Then rest of the draft was a bunch of no names that shouldn't be on anyone rosters.
Yes he was very wrong for that. He basically set the team back by 3 years - hence the 3 7&9 seasons. Going into the 2014 season has to be the biggest let down that I can remember.
After almost beating the Seahawks in the playoffs (not to mention the awesome play from Raphael Bush), there was a lot of excitement going into that season.
I even remember there was an article on nfl.com talking about the multiple facets to Rob Ryan's defense. Little did we know that we were up for a huge disappointment lol.