I guess you remember it very well indeed. I was just speaking as an average American stateside who watched the events on TV, as presented by the “media.” The term “mainstream media” had not been invented yet because there were no real alternatives available.
No, we were actually winning the war. The Tet Offensive was a desperate attempt to change the direction of the war. The result was that a large portion of the VC was wiped out in the mistaken belief that the offensive would cause a popular uprising supporting them. Unfortunately, it was portrayed as a defeat for us, but the reality on the ground was much different. Once Walter Cronkite declared the war unwinnable, public and political support started to decline rapidly.
Here is a good site to track the timeline of the war in Vietnam