I look to the two years we went to the Playoffs without Cutler and not when we were 8-8, so this is the Super Bowl Season and 2018, Nagy's first year...
Look at how the Oline played, look who we had running the ball at the time... and look at the Defense...
I rest my case...
(Note I know the Oline in 18 wasn't a great set of players, but they had a really good year. Also helped Mitch was a great deal more Mobile than Grossman.)
But you can't deny, that we had above average EVERYTHING else, and a Rookie QB, only the one Year Cutler got to the NFC title game have we really had any really good teams.
I also want to look at Lovie Smith as a coach, he was a great coach for that time and Era in the NFL (defensive scheme-wise) . Running backs were more of a star position in the early 2000's and his defense, worked for that era. Only Elite QB's like Manning and Brady were really and problem for them and they are for most teams, even the above-average ones. What Smith failed to do, was evolve. He couldn't change with the times and get with the program of what other teams were doing. He also never got an elite Qb which hurts anyone.
Lastly, I'm going to hit home with something else I heard Alex Brown say. Stevenson, he could be a great player. But, what kind of corner is he? A press physical corner, or more man-to-man, we are running a soft Cover 2 defense. This is like putting a square peg into a round hole and saying that works. We need a Nathan Vasher-type corner for this defense, if you remember him. You through the ball and he can get to it, it was HIS. Like with Peanut, get that man in there to work on their hands. You can coach zone better than man, but he is going to take his lumps in the process. But I wonder if Flues and Poles in on the same page getting the right guys for the scheme, and sacking for upstanding citizens rather than taking the talent (IE Not talking Carter)?