The Cowboys were 8-8 last year and the defensive roster got worse.
Not sure why anyone was thinking Super Bowl contender unless they thought JG was the entire problem and MM was the answer. Neither were true.
The offense was great. We assumed the new special teams coach was going to make the special teams good at the very least.
I even understand the optimism people had with the defense, figuring the swarm of pass-rushers (Lawrence, Griffen, Aldon, Gregory) and LVE coming back would make the defense harder to face. And that's before you factor in most people assuming it should automatically be an upgrade going from a lousy basic Tampa 2 coach like Marinelli to someone who actually believes in scheming to create pressure and confusion.
If the o-line and Dak stayed healthy, it actually might've all come together and worked.
It's quite possible that by December, we've got LVE and Lee and Chido all healthy and playing well. It's quite possible that Griffen finally rounds himself into game shape and is playing as well as he used to. And Gregory gets back into game shape and looks as good as he looked before, too. Our defense could rise to the point of being average but specializing in getting after quarterbacks (which is probably the best thing to specialize in if you have to choose one thing). If all that happened and our defense was being paired with the great offense we had before? And if the special teams also are good like we expected with the new special teams coach, so they're helping us instead of ever hurting us?
We could've made noise. I understand what the optimists were thinking or hoping.