The current incarnation of the OL has done a pretty good job overall minus the Vikings game and that was on the fact Zimmer had a great wrinkle that Payton was slow to adjust to, plus the fact they stuck too long with Andrus Peat who was too shaky coming off the long hiatus. You could argue that Peat shouldn't even have played at that point. At a minimum probably should have been pulled.
Last few years also when we've decided to run they do a good job of opening holes.
I think they are light years ahead of where we were right after Carl Nicks and Jonathan Goodwin left when they were trotting out the likes of Brian De Le Puente and Tim Lelito. Early on in Ingram's career he was dodging defenders in the backfield and the OL couldn't hold the LOS very well. You no longer really see that kind of disruption even when we play really stout defenses. There was a point Payton had so little faith in picking up a yard that he was running exotic sweeps and reverses on 3rd and 1 with the likes of Josh Hill.
Anyway, it was a bad game for the interior OL but for the last 3 years as a whole it's kind of an outlier and a function of getting out coached on scheme. This is a very good run blocking OL if anyone would ever think of emphasizing that.
They do need to look at moving on from Peat because he's always hurt and inconsistent. Any team is built from the inside out or should be and you can never have enough flexible talent on the OL. Everything else will flow from it so I would have no problem if they spend some capital there this off season. It's never a bad idea, though you can quibble about trade offs on needs.
And, of course, once Peat leaves he'll probably suddenly be a consistent and healthy 16 game player.