Let's be real here, we haven't been Super Bowl contenders since our last run. In 2015 we should have been eliminated in the first round, but thanks to Walsh we won a game. Then... we went on to sign him. Our only wins since then have been against 40 year old Luke McCown and a Matt Stafford playing with an injured throwing hand, and sprained ankle. The 40 year old McCown was giving us a run for our money until he got an injury.
Our issue is we don't play to our strengths. Carroll plays the same way no matter what. Right now our strength isn't in the defense, and it hasn't been since 2016. Since 2016 we haven't ranked higher than 13th in defense and our run game has been a hit and a miss. He needs to give Wilson and our receivers a modern offense, and a running game to compliment him. Letting Russ cook is not passing the ball 60 times a game, it's giving him agency to operate the offense. Meaning giving him more options to vary the tempo, give him more agency at the LOS to change plays, giving him an offense that structurally modern, not a relic from 1979. It's all about giving him all of the tools at his disposal to carry the team, and yes that does include a running game.
Lockett, Wilson and DK Metcalf are the teams strengths and the offense has been the strength of the team for quite some time, yet we're not approaching games that way, specifically in the playoffs and later half of the seasons.