I think of it as a 4 year plan. Expectations are still rather bleak because we have one of the worst rosters in the league. As soon as Gus/Dave get their guys and we aren't a playoff contending team after year 4 then we should just cut our losses. But we should have an arrow of consistency. If we only win 4 or less games next year I'd consider it a big problem. Carroll went 7-9 with the Seahawks in his first two years playing in a relatively weak division before the Jim Harbaugh took over the 49ers. Then the third year they got a franchise QB and won a playoff game after finishing 11-5 and then winning the Super Bowl this past year. I'm not saying this is a fair comparison but it shows if a team is bound for success it shouldn't take years and years to go anywhere like Marvin Lewis' Bengals.

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