Patience is the most difficult thing is sports.
And I am not any kind of expert. But thanks for the nice words.
I will share what my thought were, and why.
I disliked Flynn as our QB intensely, even the day after his huge game for GB I said some stupid team is going to pay that guy a lot of money. I watched his Detroit game over and over and despite the numbers, saw a couple of bad habits, and posted such, and got a bit roasted by some for it. Conversely, through preseason, Russ showed a quick release and could make plays without being in the gun. After the opening loss to the Cards, I was higher than ever about the future. I was 6 rows back in the endzone where we could not score a TD to win that game, and saw Russ put an outgunned offense in position to win, then saw him give players chances to catch tds that they could not quite catch. We lost, but the tools were plain.
I now subscribe to the idea that while Flynn was brought in to compete, he also served a perfect smokescreen to pick Russell. I also gained a ton of respect for Pete, who endured a lot of second guessing for sticking with Russ the first half of that season.
Anyone remember the miserable look on Flynn's face during a postgame celebration? IIRC, he got the game ball for being in victory formation or something like that. Everyone else is happy, and he looks like a bird shit on his lip. Pete has mastered the art of subtley being a a dick to guys who don't really buy in, and that was one of those moments. I knew Flynn was gone after the year right then.