I don't get it? I mean because it's not a 980 Ti? Just because it's lower end doesn't make it "bad".. It's for people on a budget, and from what I've heard is that it's a decent card..
The 960 is a very capable card. If you do get one though - i'd say go for the 4GB versipn. The 2GB version is being phased out/discontinued as 2gig of vram just isnt really enough these days and the price difference is pretty small. Get the 4GB version if you get the 960.
To be fair, most cards compared to the 970 are bad seeing as the 970 is widely regarded as the best pound-for-pound card out there.
If you plan on playing at 1080p with most games in the medium / high settings then you won't go wrong with a 960, it's a solid little card for the money.
That still wouldn't make it a "bad" card... The 960 will do great in most scenarios, but if you want to put in the extra cash of course the 970 will be better..