Originally Posted by
steelreserve
The point is not how many, or how few, other teams are meeting that standard. It is that your team SHOULD be aiming for that standard, because that is the only standard that is rewarded. And if you're not making progress toward it, then you should stop and evaluate what you're doing. I don't think it's "complaining" to question whether we're doing everything we can to reach that goal.
One way to look at is, "well, we're doing better than the Browns." I would say that we have more tools at this point than most teams to help us succeed, so we SHOULD be doing better than the Browns and that is nothing to celebrate.
There will come a time when we're not so fortunate, and it will be more like some of the early '90s teams where making the playoffs was exciting and you hoped they added a couple pieces next year, and it was good that they were going in the right direction.
At that point, assuming things do not deviate from the way they are now, I will not be looking back at the 2010s and thinking, "man, it was great that we did pretty good and made the playoffs pretty often," but rather, "damn, it's too bad we didn't win one more championship when we had a franchise QB and a loaded roster. That was kind of a waste, and now being several steps away really drives that home."
THAT'S the perspective that being better than the Browns brings. Competing for a championship is difficult, that's the whole point. People say, "oh, you're taking it for granted because the team is good and you're spoiled, so you complain about anything other than going 19-0 every year and even then you'd still find something to complain about!" No, more like you know that being in a position to compete for a championship is nothing to take for granted, and to have it be within reach and keep missing it is a terrible waste, because the window could, in fact, be gone just like that.
I mean, I assume most of us have other teams we follow in different sports; it's not like the Steelers are the only point of reference and all anyone knows is rooting for a successful team. The "spoiled Steelers fan" argument is pretty ridiculous to me.