Sunday was doomsday in Castlebar and the fallout has been rough.
After the defeat to Cavan, people down here have been bandying around comparisons to the infamous loss to Longford in 2010, the last real low-point for Mayo football.
The reality has hit home that there are possibly six or seven genuine All-Ireland contenders at the moment and Mayo sadly just aren't in that conversation anymore.
We said a fortnight ago that this year's Connacht final defeat to Galway hit much harder than a year ago. This was a game in MacHale Park that was on a plate for Mayo with 20 minutes left, level in the match with a huge wind at their backs for the remainder, and they managed to blow it.
For whatever reason - the few years without a provincial title, allowing Galway to do four-in-a-row for the first time since the 60s - that defeat stung the Mayo public far more than any Connacht final defeat I can remember in my time.
I don't know if the players were still sulking from that loss or whether the after-taste was still lingering, but their body language was poor throughout the Cavan game. I heard Martin Carney on Mid-West Radio was fuming throughout the game about a lack of intensity, a bad sign.
Either way, it seemed evident that Mayo didn't approach Sunday's game with the proper attitude. Frankly, they didn't respect Cavan enough.
They didn't lay a glove on them for much of the 70 minutes. Ciaran Brady's opening point was indicative, where he was allowed run and run and run and stroke a tap-over point with Mayo lads waving him on his way. Cormac O'Reilly, a player with whom I wasn't terribly familiar, destroyed Mayo's full-back line and barely had a glove laid on him.
Worst of all, the final scoreline flattered Mayo. They were behind by eight points until they stuck on 1-02 in the final couple of minutes, the goal coming through a very rare direct ball into Aidan O'Shea on the edge of the square.
The management are taking a lot of heat for Sunday's performance, although they're not alone in the dock.
People are calling for Kevin McStay to walk but the players also have to take responsibility here. The energy they brought to the contest wasn't acceptable.
Definitely, the football Mayo are playing now is far too slow and lateral and monotonous and I don't think is suited to the playing group. It's a deviation from what Mayo have been when they've played their best football.
If I see one more lad sticking his hand up in the air to slow down an attack, I think I'll go cracked. We're going slow enough as it is. On most of these attacks, if we went any slower, we'd be walking. Put your hand down!
On one level, you'd say it'd be typical Mayo to go and win their next two group games. But, to be honest, I don't see it.
There's still a chance they could take out Tyrone, who've shown their unreliability time and again. I'd have said that was 50:50 prior to the Cavan game but you'd have to revise that form-guide now.
Mayo have a tendency to play up or down to the level of the team they're coming up against and no doubt they'll have to ratchet up the intensity for that game.
But it's an absolute must-win now because the prospect of beating Donegal on their current form on neutral turf looks very slim indeed.
Under-pressure Galway facing conundrums
It wasn't a good weekend for Connacht football as a whole, in truth, with Galway suffering a setback against Dublin in Pearse Stadium, paying the price for a lethargic first-half display.
The Rossies, of course, found their voice again on Sunday and were able to take great delight in Mayo's loss. Which at least took their mind off getting pummelled by Kerry in Killarney the day before.
The only Connacht side to win was Sligo and they were playing another Connacht team, Leitrim.
Galway are under huge pressure now after falling victim to Dublin's revenge mission in Saturday's cracking game in Salthill. One of the defining passages in the game was when Shane Walsh dawdled in possession near the left-hand sideline, and Ciarán Kilkenny came roaring in and shunted him - borderline fouled him, possibly - over the sideline.
Kilkenny played like a demon all afternoon, possibly one of his greatest ever performances, alongside the 2019 All-Ireland final replay. Con O'Callaghan - who will be badly missed if he is injured - showed again he's a killer and gave Johnny McGrath, one of the best defenders in the game, a torrid time.
Galway's two-pointers dried up with Paul Conroy shackled and Shane Walsh not quite on his game. Pádraic Joyce has selection conundrums coming up in attack. There is talk that Damien Comer is nearing a return.
But what do you do with him and Walsh if they're not 100% and short of match practice? Is it worth throwing them in there from the start at this point? Because at the moment, Rob Finnerty and Matthew Thompson are carrying that attack.
Eyes turn northwards again
A word on this weekend's games. I've sworn off tipping Tyrone in tight games after they let me down once again in the Ulster semi-final (come back to me when they're playing Mayo, I suppose).
Provincial finalists have been vulnerable in the first round-robin game under the current system but Donegal seem immune to that. They beat Tyrone comfortably in this exact fixture last year.
Under Malachy O'Rourke, the Red Hands have shown slight improvements but I don't think they were ambitious enough in their approach against Armagh and it wasn't until the second half that they began to abandon caution and attack with real purpose.
Donegal, with the likes of Peadar Mogan, Michael Langan and Ciaran Thompson firing on all cylinders, look to be a couple of years further down the track.
My one caveat is that, like most purists, I'd prefer to see them kick the ball a bit more. They remain very hand-pass based. But regardless, I think they have enough nous and experience to see off Tyrone at home.
Derry are still the wildcard in the 'Group of Death'. If they're going to do anything, they need to stop conceding goals anyway.
They let in a truck-load of them in the league. The last time they were in the Athletic Grounds two months ago, Armagh had four buried past them before 45 minutes were gone. Hard to believe given that defensive guru Paddy Tally is over them.
They were a rabble in the closing stages of the league and you'd be inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt and say they had written off survival as a hopeless cause by then. But then their championship showing against Donegal wasn't a whole pile better, with discipline issues surfacing again.
They still have quality players lying around Conor Glass and Shane McGuigan et al but you would wonder if their strength in depth has been tested to its limit in the past 12 months. It was generally the same 18 or 19 guys going back to the well since 2022.
I'd expect a still formidable Armagh team to win by five or six points.
Louth are probably still in dreamland, enjoying their greatest football summer in half a century. Their Under-20s piled more misery on Mayo in the All-Ireland semi-final last Friday.
But Monaghan are lying in wait after a very impressive season to date. With their two-point shooters and mastery of the new rules, I'd expect them to bring Louth back down to earth a tad this weekend.
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