Still can't see this seasons as anything other than a complete waste, if they had at least replaced Carlyle we could have seen whether it was a coaching issue or really a player issue.
The issue is more of how management sees it. As long as they know what the underlying issues are, then whether they sneak into a first round exit or barely miss the playoffs, improvements can be made going forward. I know what I think they should do (or try to do, at least), so we'll see. With the number of RFAs and the cap situation, this offseason is going to tell us a lot about the state of the organization.