I posted my comment before reading yours but said the same thing. Everyone is going to post how they didn't expect the same thing, and most of them are lying through their teeth.
Re-read some of the prediction threads/how many losses threads, and you'll see that some certainly weren't taking the schedule lightly at all. Besides that, many did expect a different team with all of the losses at defense--hell, we lost half of the defense. I agree that a change was in order defensivly, but I'm not sure about it happening all at once. Seymour may have been the icing on the cake, (although it'll help in 2012 when the selction has had a yr or so to learn the system etc) but some did expect things to be different, for sure.
What some didn't expect was Mayo getting hurt, Welker being down, the offensive line looking as bad as they do, an insane amount of penalties, and less than top tier coaching. There has been no running game, Galloway looks lost at best, and they have played like a shell of their former selves. I know that I didn't come close to expecting that at all.
If not for a once in 100 chance of McKelvin getting stripped of the ball, we're 0-2 staring 2-0 powerhouse playoff teams Atlanta and Baltimore right in the face, probably splitting at best and starting 1-3. I don't think anyone planned on starting 1-3 or even 2-2, but there were indeed lots, that knew we had absolute challenges every single week.
