today's game evolved greatly around the guy in the center of the offense; you can't win big game without him. Yes, you can have the best defense in the league but you must have a QB who is good enough to drive down the field to win in big moment.
Like Denver last year, they were ranked #1 defense in the league and Manning wasn't playing his best but he did enough to let his defense to close out the game.
Therefore, either you have good manager QB who can drive down the field when needed to and great Defense.
Or you have great QB and good defense.
When it comes to winning SB, all the cylinders have to click in order to win all the games in the post season.
When we won 2012 SB, our defense were ranked top 20 but when we made a run in the post season, we were playing like top 5 defense in the league. Everything was clicking....
In the end, it's impossible to avoid paying top bucks for the franchise QB....