[mheisig]

I know I'm not usually positive beacon of light around here, but I submit that this could actually be good for the team in the long run.

First, it's preseason. Yeah, we looked awful in every aspect of the game, yeah we got our asses handed to us by the Carolina Panthers for a full 60 minutes. But, in the grand scheme of things, come the first week of the regular season we're all back to 0-0. This doesn't hurt our chances of the playoffs or a Super Bowl.

Second, I think this could really beneficial if you think about it. We were 3-0, feeling good, thinking we're hot stuff and ready to take over the league. What happened last night was that a LOT of our weaknesses were exposed in a big way. We now have a nice punchlist of items to address in practice with respect to the weak defense and offense.

Sure, ideally we'd be so good that there wouldn't be any problems to even address. If any of you really think we're on the brink of an undefeated season culminating in a Super Bowl, we won't have any injuries and every game we play will be flawless, you're in for a bit of a shock.

I know it's the silver lining on a dark cloud, but at least our weaknesses were exposed and we can now work on them.

Someone once said something along the lines of, "Wisdom comes from experience. Experience comes from screwing things up."

Sometimes it takes failing in a big way to recognize what you need to work on to succeed. I'd much rather have this revelation the fourth game of the preseason than figure it out five games into the regular season when it's really hard to right the ship.