He faces a year without the heart of the O-line that has kept him upright all these years, which means he'll be running for his life more than ever, perhaps making him more prone to the boneheaded gambles that have plagued him of late.
Never mind that Clifton, Flanagan, and Tauscher will be back next year, and last I checked, they were pretty good. And don't forget that Larry Beightol is one of the bast o-line coaches in the business. The defense won't be great, but Jim Bates will make them better. And there's still this thing called The Draft coming up in a month.
I'm really getting sick of all this doom and gloom bs. It's pretty stupid to right off a team 6 months before the start of the season. The 1999 Rams were supposed to suck. The 2000 Ravens were supposed to suck. The 2001 Patriots were supposed to suck. And they all won Super Bowls.