D is going to be anything close to the 2004 one but we will reserve judgement until after they have played the games. And the fact that happened once 15 years ago doesn't excuse anything IMO.
As @n2beaches said, Bud (who most of us love like a family member) does not make that kind of money to not make adjustments. There is a subtle picture of a man walking into a brick wall only to back up and try again over and over running through my mind's eye at this moment. If you want to blame execution, two things should be occurring IMO:
1. You. Are. Paid. To. Coach. Them. Up. If the team is executing roughly the same at the beginning of the season as the end, that is a problem. If it is a talent/youth issue, well see point number....
2. If the execution isn't there game after game (or even quarter after quarter within the same game), it is a coach's (or coordinator's) job to adjust the game plan, schemes, alignment, etc. To continue running the same thing over and over despite getting gashed on play after play is akin to my brick wall analogy earlier. It's as if you can hear the coaches saying "keep running it, they'll get it eventually." When you know what you're doing is not working, you simplify things, you provide help, you don't leave your guys on an island when you know they are not capable of cover zero basically.
Maybe I am alone in this but I do not think the coaches are infallible, I see them make mistakes (and good decisions as well), and I do believe they, like everyone else on the face of this planet, are open to questioning and scrutiny.
In closing, I believe something was off medically/healthwise with Bud last season more than anyone is letting on. I believe that is what drove him up to the booth and I also believe that is what is holding up the contract extension. Hopefully whatever that is has been worked out/healed/etc. because we all want good things for him and we will need him at 100% to push us back in the right direction this year.