Progress Will Cure Most Narratives

From the reporting of nationally known reporters like Jason LaCanfora to the potshots by countless ESPN personalities, most news, issues, or transactions about the Jaguars franchise has been painted with a dark grey brush. Everything is always doom and gloom for this franchise in their eyes.

That, coupled with the lack of positive coverage from local radio stations and reporters over the years, has poisoned the well for many Jaguar fans. Plenty of fan bases experience much greater lulls in success than the Jacksonville Jaguars. Have the last few years been great? Certainly not. Could it be much worse? Absolutely. Let's take a look.

The Cincinnati Bengals haven't won a playoff game since 1990. The Bengals have been to the playoffs five times during that stretch, but their sustained playoffs appearances only really began in 2009. The Bengals still struggle to sell tickets to playoff games; in fact, despite being a playoff team in 2009, 2011, and 2012, the Bengals had a home blackout in the 2012 season, which is something that the Jaguars haven't experienced since 2009.

The Detroit Lions haven't won a playoff game since 1991. They also had a 12 year drought in between playoff games. The Lions most recent blackout was during the 2010 season.

The Jaguars have also had a playoff win before the Kansas City Chiefs (1993), Buffalo Bills (1995), Cleveland Browns (1994), Miami Dolphins (2005), Oakland Raiders (2002), Tampa Bay (2002), Tennessee Titans (2003), St Louis Rams (2004), Washington Redskins (2005), and the Carolina Panthers (2005). Many of those teams watched the Jaguars win several playoffs games during their long droughts.

Despite what national media would have people believe, the Buffalo Bills, Chargers, Buccaneers, Bengals, Raiders, Lions, Rams and Chiefs all had blackouts of their games after the Jaguars most recent blackout, which was 5 seasons ago. Many of those aforementioned teams have had several blackouts and also, like the Jaguars, have had away site home games.

Is the Jaguars state of fandom where it should be? No. It isn't. But, it isn't some sad state of affairs where the team is absolutely doomed.

Many Jaguars fans can't wait until the Jaguars gain bandwagon fans when the team starts preforming well. The Bengals have been in the playoffs 4 out of the last 5 years. I don't see many more black and orange hats around. Do you?

I'll be happy when I see more photos of fans in Jacksonville with flags on their car. I'll be happy when I hear that more young kids are wearing Jaguars gear to school. I'll be happy when season tickets are a struggle to get and not just an email or phone call away. We will get there. All it takes is a little bit of winning. Go back through some of the articles on Big Cat Country over the last few weeks. If you read those, you will be able to see that winning is coming, and it is coming soon. Winning will be the vaccine to the illness of doubt about our franchise and its fans.