With the win today at Philly to get our fourth win, the Fins have now been either 5-4 or 4-5 after nine games played in eight of the last nine seasons, with the exception being 2007 when we were 0-9. To find the last time that we were 6-3 or better after nine games, you have to look all the way back to 2001, when the team lost the ninth game to fall to 6-3 that year.
From 1990-2001, the team was 6-3 or better in 8/12 seasons, and the worst in that stretch was 4-5. Six of those starts were 7-2 or better.
On a note of hope though, fro 1985-1991, the team started either 4-5 or 5-4 in 6/7 seasons too, and that was with Dan Marino and Don Shula on the team. Interesting seasons in that run included 1985, when the team won their final seven games to finish 12-4 and go to the AFC title game, and 1991, when the team turned 4-5 into 8-6, and would have made the playoffs if they had been able to win either of their last two games, which were at home vs clubs with losing records when the game was played.
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That means that we do not end seasons well, which everyone around hear knows all too well.
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Bengals and Patriots are a different animal though. Patriots are just great and champions. And begals are ridiculously loaded with talent. Highly doubt they will be able to keep them all after this season but thats once in a lifetime talent on both sides of the ball. -
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I'm curious what the league numbers would be, but with the Fins, starting a season 6-3 or better is almost a guarantee of making the playoffs, as they've done so eight of the nine seasons where they started the season that way since the playoffs expanded in 1990. (the exception was 93, when Marino was injured and they finished 0-5 after starting 7-2).
They've made the playoffs only two of the six times when they started 5-4, though they only ended up with a losing record in only one of those seasons. This is the sixth time they've started a season 4-5 in that frame, and they've yet to make the playoffs or finish with a winning record after beginning that way. -