No it's much worse. In 2017 they had a theoretical chance for decent place in manus.
For 2018 with 2 "real" cars there just isn't any.
So the only hope in terms of championship is that Meeke will get consistent and the car will be competitive in slippery/changing conditions. Those two together are not exactly likely. Specially since the pressure will be on Meeke as much or even more than in 2017 (since his contract ends after 2018).
As for Loeb he is playing it extremely safe, entering the 2 rallies C3 won and 3rd one that it led before technical issues.