Yep. A tank or tear down is no guarantee of success and often leads to 20 to 30 years of misery. Even teams that hit on the tear down, like the Texans, often end up as mid-range teams. And right now they could go either way. On the other hand, there are teams like K.C. and Philly who stuck around in the middle until they hit on a QB and could quickly build from mediocre.
The key is always getting the right QB and building around them so that you have a shot every year and if you have one great draft, or a couple very good, you end up a contender winning 11 to 13 every year.
Most often you get those QBs by picking high in the draft, but that can either be done by record or by trade up, and sometimes you just get lucky finding those QBs in free agency, after the top of the 1st, or in trade. And even then sometimes teams tread water until they hit in the draft.