I think this speaks to the team variables aspect brought up in the post.
If you have a HOFer type QB that is the life blood of your team and/or pretty much the focal point of your pass-focused offense, that’s completely different.
To that end, if I recall correctly, we were still a very functional offense when Brees was out and I also think we went undefeated when he wasn’t playing while we had Unger, a Pro Bowl type center.
Payton made getting a star center a priority for a reason when trying to fix the team and get it ready for that final run we had, and I am realizing more and more why he prioritized it so much.