I misinterpreted.
There's no question a lot has been invested in that secondary. Hopefully it all comes to fruition, but until it does, I'm remaining cautiously optimistic. Right now I think they will be improved over last season, in that this defense probably would have been able to pick up another couple of stops in that Atlanta game, which theoretically would have given us a better shot to win.
So if the defense is better, lets say they improve to 15th overall in total defense or so, assuming reasonable health on the offensive side, I believe that could be enough. But if the offense gets hit with a few injuries to key position players, 15th overall isn't going to be enough to win a SB, IMO.
I guess what I'm really getting at is I don't think this defense is top 10 quality and if the offense isn't clicking on all cylinders, for one reason or another, we're going to be in some trouble again.