Wherein DBJ desperately looks to rationalize this mess

Do YOU have a better explanation?

I, like so much of the Columbus Blue Jackets fanbase, am stunned at the (lack of) performance of the CBJ this season.  I know that the preseason isn't supposed to be taken too seriously, but it sure seemed like this team had much more potential than they have displayed thus far in the regular season.

What's even more amazing is that the team's collapse was so sudden.  The third period and overtime of Wednesday's Colorado game, the Dallas game...it's like the team collectively shifted into neutral.  Remember, the second period against Colorado actually looked pretty good.  So what gives?

I've been wracking my brain, and here's the best I can come up with (in a mindset that stubbornly refuses to accept that the team's talent, chemistry and coaching can't be so bad as to fall off the cliff en route to an 0-4-1 start):  Flu shots.


Remember, one of the Dispatch reporters offered this nugget on October 14th:

Told #CBJ players have been given flu shots over the last couple of days.

This, of course, was a team response to the flu bug that's supposedly been slowing Jeff Carter down for the past few games.  So do the calendar math.  "Last couple of days" could take us back to the 12th, the day of the Colorado game.  Could the shots have taken hold of the CBJ roster as the game progressed?   I can't speak for other people, but I've been thrown for a loop for a few days by flu shots before.  Could this particular strain of flu shot be so lethargy-inflicting as to screw up the team's mojo in Dallas, too?

This is a stretch.  A HUGE stretch.  It's the best I can come up with, however, and it kinda sorta explains how an entire team can descend collectively into The Suck.  (It doesn't explain, however, why 3/4 of the team's forwards have essentially stopped scoring since the preseason ended.  So surely there's more to the conversation.)

OK, I'm desperate.  But tell me that you aren't, too, CBJ Fan.