I feel like 03 and 04 had lots of games that come close to this, but no single game or moment. We saw the young defensive core that would take the team to the Super Bowl in a few years and make them consistently competitive for the next decade in action and perform at typically high levels.
28-3 win over Arizona in 03 led by primarily young players was nice. It was the first blowout win, or win without an intense fourth quarter, the team had in two calendar years. I thought Brock Forsey ran for 134 in his debut, Justin Gage had a hundred yards as a rookie,
13-10 win over the Vikings in 03 for Grossman’s first start, with Tillman ripping the ball away from Moss could qualify.
24-27 win over Washington in Grossman’s second start, where we had a rookie QB lead a fourth quarter scoring drive as time expired to win.
Beating Green Bay 21-10 in Smith’s first attempt in week two 2004 was great. Grossman got a win, we beat Green Bay for the first time in eight games, got a two score win, and our defense was dominant.
I can’t remember the score, but we beat the Giants in NY something like 21-14 after falling down by two TDs immediately. We forced five turnovers in a half and Alex Brown had like four sacks. Rookie Tommie Harris dominated, rookie Nathan Vasher with an INT. That might have been the first true Lovie Smith era game where the defense did everything from start to finish, where you started to become excited to see the defense on the field.