So today was a crucial game. I can hear the disagreement, "It's not the end of the World..." etc, etc, but this is a game that Bill Belichek, a HOF Coach, would have had his Tom Brady led Patriots ready for, regardless of the players TB had around him. Let me explain...
You have the Titans playing the Bengals. The Titans need the win, but the Bengals definitely have to give it their all. With a Bengals loss and a W for us, we go up, basically two on them, plus we basically win the conference battle over them for the Division if we win. BB was always aware of these games. I honestly don't think JH is. BB was the master of these seemingly unimportant games - "Awe, we can drop one, we're still leading the Division even if the Bengals win..." That mindset, and I think it is real, has cost us in the past, and it cost us today.
With the loss, the Bengals are now tied with us on record. Had they lost and we won, we'd be in a commanding position going into Division play. We still have 4 Division games and another Conference game. The only game we could have really said, "Well this one isn't too important..." on is the Falcons. But now every game counts on overall record. And the Falcons are a team we don't match up well against with how they run using WR's and the passing they do. It's not a gimme.
I think this game comes back to haunt us. I saw the same errors as I do each and every week. Bad routes, errant passes, drops, rushing to get plays off. Short of getting all new "bit" players on both sides of the ball - which is impossible, that's a team rebuild - you question the coaching.
I continue to question the coaching of this club, starting with JH and going down from there. These are the same errors we've seen going back to 2013.