Mr teX
Hall of Fame
They let Cullen Jenkins walk in the offseason. They probably thought the same about him as some guys here feel about Mario.
That's certainly part of it..the other parts:
the defending champs ALWAYS get every teams' "A" game. That's why it's so common for teams who won the SB 1 year to have 1st round exits or even miss the playoffs the next year. Everyone wants a piece of the champ.
The other part that's a huge factor is your schedule. depending on what rotation you're on (NFC east, NFC west etc., etc.) and where you finished in your division (division winner, 2nd or 3rd place) you could wind up with a doozy of a schedule.
Our schedule gets much tougher next year with offensively capable teams like NE, GB & Det on the schedule. We'll also have to contend with defensive heavy teams like Balt, NY jets & Den. next year as well. Such is the perks of winning your division.
So stop getting caught up in the hype with such statements like "we were the #2 ranked defense last year without Mario, we should just let him walk, we'll be ok". Our defense was good last year, but the reality of it is our defense's improvement went hand in hand with the fact that our divisional opponents falling off. It wasn't nearly as good as our end of season ranking would indicate with terrible losses to Carolina & Indy late. If we go into the season next year with this mindstate, we're going to be in for a rude awakening.