Isn't it amazing how we can go thru the worst season and then the first signs of practice and we're all ready to book tickets to the super bowl?!
No sarcasm. I love this time of year when anything is possible. It's also so indicative of life as a football fan. Everything starts all over again in the summer and we basically forget the previous season was ever a thing. Like a CB who just got burned, getting right back to business the next play.
In this era of the NFL, yes it is possible, we seen from worst to first before. With FA's and teams can be rebuilt on an off season. Most teams, there is really not a lot of difference in the talent as much as most believe. Well more so in the older days than now. As we seen how bad our depth could be / is. As a lot has to do with coaching and schemes and game plans. AND some breaks and luck along the way. Ball bouncing the right or wrong way at times.
It is not like the old days, when you could only build through the draft. You draft 12 players, and some UDFA's. You had their rights forever. If you were not such a good team, it may take 3 to 4 years of drafting high to become good enough to challenge for a playoff spot. As they only had 1 WC team for awhile. But you had to hit the draft right.
And if you were a good team, even picking lower, you stayed a good team for a long time. Because you could keep your good players for their entire careers.
Now a team can turn it around in ONE off-season, or be torn apart. What was the Dallas downfall, FA's more so than Jimmy leaving. Though I believe they could have had 5 SB wins over 10 years if Jimmy was there. But that is a different issue. But talent and competitive wise no matter the coach, was because of FA and salary cap.