There is a damn good chance we would have been 1-11 anyway, and surely no better than 3-8, more likely 2-9. The problem is we know what GIo can do and how limited he is. Sitkowski was the one everyone assumed had the upside, the arm and three more years after this one.
You play Gio, maybe you win one more game, and where are we next year? Would Sitkowski have been this bad after a year of practice and some garbage-time duty? Maybe, maybe not. On the flip side, who could have known Sitkowski would be THIS bad? That is pure hindsight. Sure, it should have been rough for a freshman in this league, but historically horrific? Don't anyone tell me they saw that coming.
I love Gio, but he is not the guy to win games. The problem is Sitkowski can't even manage games, which Gio CAN do.
Even when we were pretty good we often had QB management issues. So whichever way we went wouldn't have worked out somehow. You just feel it with this staff. .