We were 2-3 WITH Russ. Hell, in the past four years, his prime years, our only playoff victory was against a team that had their starting QB knocked out, and was forced to play a 40-year-old backup making his NFL playoff debut.
Russ is great, but how are we actually supposed to build around him? We have basically no capital, and some of our big contracts, with Russ' deal being the most prohibitive, make putting pieces around him difficult. We're probably talking years, and who knows how effective Russ will still be by then. And by then, we'll have to pay DK, Wagner will be gone, Duane Brown will probably be gone. First round draft picks are worth gold with the current CBA, but we have a high pick that isn't ours next year because we gave up the farm to bid against ourselves for a safety who barely helps in pass coverage.
There's a reason why most of the recent Super Bowl winners don't have insane amounts of money tied up in their QB. Your margin of error is way too slim. Our Super Bowl run happened with Russ on a 3rd round rookie deal, and a number of other stars on bargain contracts. It looks like the same thing is happening now to Kansas City.
It's not as simple as saying "Russ is good. Keep him". He keeps our floor higher, but with the way the rest of the team looks, this is nowhere near a championship caliber squad.