Youre making the same excuses for him, yes he needs a strong oline, ground game and defense etc but thats because he's not capable of carrying an offense like other highly paid QBs.
Okay so it seems we have successfully dispelled the notion that he got worse after the SB so now I just need to do the easy part and dispel this league wide myth that there are QBs out there carrying bad offenses to I assume playoff wins since that is the goal of every team.
Other than Aaron Rodgers who is the only QB on his level who still has a pretty good surrounding cast but still cant quite get his team to the SB on his own because they wont help him there are no QBs doing it. In fact lets look at teams that made the SB since the Ravens did it.
Last year was Falcons vs Patriots. Patriots having a great OLine and multiple playmakers on offense as well as one of the best defenses in the league and an easily top 4 secondary. Since I know the Patriots are going to be mentioned a lot as I go on, when they make the SB they always have an elite OLine which they have every year, elite weapons on offense, and some part of there defense is always great usually the secondary. The Falcons in terms of playmaker were LOADED on offense. Defense was considered shoddy but offensively the Falcons had weapons to compete with anyone so they certainly were not being carried by Matt Ryan and when they were in years prior he was not good enough to do so.
Well lets go back to 2 years ago then. You had the Panthers and Broncos. The Broncos having one of the best defenses in history going against Carolina a team that was both of the best run defending and rushing teams in the NFL. For all Cam Newtons showiness that team was built around pounding the rock and throwing it up to the big bodied receivers they drafted. Again though when it was Cams time to carry that team they failed as will be trend on this list and the great defense by the way won that game.
3 years ago we had Seahawks and the Patriots. The Seahawks as was the case during their run being lead by one of the best secondaries ever going against the Patriots who once again built a great secondary (notice that trend) by signing Revis to an essentially 1 year deal to go with an offense loaded with weapons and a great offensive line. Even still that game came down to that secondary making a play when Seattle honestly should have run the ball (see what happens when you want QB to carry an offense).
4 years ago it was the Seahawks vs the Broncos. The Broncos that year are the closest example to an offense carried by its QB even though they had a legit OLine and legit weapons Peyton Manning was certainly on fire that year. However we remember that game as the game that fire was put out and stamped on by one of the great secondaries in Seattle.
By the way before I try this another way do note that the teams that seemed to win the SB had some of the best secondaries in football that year.
However since this is about Flacco and maybe judging by just who makes it the SB is a bad example lets just list the QBs who are in that pay sphere and talk about their teams a bit and the lack of carrying the QBs have done.
In the AFC North there are 2 other QBs in that pay sphere in Dalton and Big Ben. Dalton I am not even going to dignify with an answer and Ben has really started taking off again once he got Bell and Brown. However that still has not been enough to "carry" the team and they really have started taking that next step as there defense has gotten better each year.
In the AFC South the only big contract QB is Luck and we have all seen how that team has fared trying to rely on Luck to carry them over the hump. They need more. They need an OLine, they need a running game and they need a defense.
In the AFC West there is Rivers who got that team to 5-11 so thats all ill say about that. I will mention the Raiders because while not in that paysphere I think Carr is on that level of the guys on this list and that offense is loaded with weapons and a great OLine with a solid defense and they can make the SB because of it.
In the AFC East there is Tom Brady and we already talked about the weapons he has around him on the OLine and on offense as well as on defense. Tannihill is also in that pay bracket but has done absolutely nothing with it. They made the playoffs last year but lets be blunt they were not one of the top 6 teams in the AFC, I wouldnt even consider them one of the top 8 in the AFC last year and they got rightly destroyed in the playoffs.
In the NFC North there is Stafford who has not been able to really put together anything and lets remember before this year he had one of the best WR of all time on his team. There is also Rodgers who is in a class of his own and is able to at times carry a team but they have weapons, they just have a lot of unfilled holes and they just hope Rodgers can fix it but he is never enough on his own.
In the NFC South there is Brees and Newton who both finished below .500 so thats all need be said and Matt Ryan who I already mentioned had an elite team built around him on offense that year and before that could not carry the team.
In the NFC West there is Wilson who gets paid like that and again Seattle is all about defense. The one thing I will give Wilson is that he needs an OLine less then most because of his mobility but to make up for that he needs better playmakers so it balances out.
In the NFC East you really only have Eli for now and we all saw over the years how his career has been brought back from the brink by getting ODB.
In summary none of the QBs listed here are bad and without them the above teams have NO CHANCE of making the super bowl. Go ask Houston about what its like to have a Super Bowl level team but no QB to go with it. They have any of the QBs I listed (except probably Dalton and Tannehill) then the Texans are a SB favorite but instead they have no chance and thats what a QB gives you and that is why they are worth it but they cant do it alone and that is the paradox of the NFL. You need to pay big money for the QB to have a chance but you also need to build a team around him if you are going to take advantage of that chance.