It's probably just a bit in the middle for me. We're better than some of the doom and gloom in some ways, but at the same time also probably worse than some of the hype in some ways too.
On one hand, yes, it's good that our losses have all been relatively close and while we do have five losses, they have all came against arguably 3 of the top 4-5 teams in the league.
On the other hand...out of our 11 victories, only 3 have come against teams with winning records (and 4 wins against teams with less than 5 wins on the season).
Looking at our "floor," we had some ugly games against BAD teams in Jacksonville and Chicago, barely sneaking by them. And I think every team has those sort of games from time to time, to be fair. But we have also shown so far that our "ceiling" is that we are able to hang tough and keep it close with elite teams. The trouble is that as of yet we have not shown an ability to "break through the ceiling" and actually get a win vs any of those elite teams. And to make it far in the postseason, odds are decent that we will need to manage at least two, probably three wins against those teams that we failed to beat once in five regular-season chances (to say nothing of whoever the AFC produces, be it KC, Buffalo, Baltimore, etc)
I think in general the 2010 team had a stronger body of work despite a worse W-L record. That season we had wins against the Eagles (10-6), Jets (11-5), Giants (10-6), and the Bears (11-5). And our "close losses" that season came against the 14-2 Patriots and 13-3 Falcons. Of course, to speak in our favor, we did ultimately beat those same Falcons (and handily) in the playoffs, after beating the Bears again (who we had split the season series with), and a second win in the wild card over the Eagles. By my count we had at least 4 wins over playoff teams that year, compared to I believe just 2 this year.
Or, to put it shortly - in 2010 there was IMO a bit more reason to believe we could beat some of the top teams in the league because we had already done it that season. This year there is much less evidence to support that kind of belief I'd say.
Now all that to say, it's been a fun season, and I still enjoy watching the games even in seasons that don't end in a super bowl victory, but at the same time for me personally I don't think it's wrong or being a bad fan to think that we have probably already seen our "ceiling" and to not expect much beyond that. Now of course I hope that is not the case and we are able to go beyond that level, but at this point it feels like we're basically playing with house money and any postseason progress is just the cherry on top.
And at the same time, TBH it's not like anything I/we say here is really going to change anything, but while I don't think there's any benefit in constantly sh*tting on the team and acting like we're doomed to failure, there's also no benefit in plugging our ears and pretending there's no problem and that we are totally equal with every other team and there's nothing to complain about. Neither way really does anyone any good IMO. Some could stand to admit that we are playing some decent football, have some decent players, and have put together a relatively successful staff and roster with steady and competent management...and some could stand to admit that we are probably not playing *championship* football right now, might lack for "difference making" players, have often come up short in big games, and aren't always batting 1.000 on player scouting/drafting/recruitment/roster construction, etc. Both can be true (and probably are)
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