It's not, though. It's true that there's always a time bias, but there's no question that leagues have highs and lows. 90's basketball (Bird, McHale retiring early with injury, Magic dealing with AIDS, MJ playing baseball, etc...) was a definite low point, for example.
There's often a reason for the dips (greats retire or get injured as above, major rules changes impact play, lesser influx of talent), but they do happen. And we're living through a period where many reporters are singing the praises of a new generation of QBs when those QBs really aren't deserving of the praise, and the position is down. And, given the current rules, the decline of the QB position is a major factor in the decline of the game. And that goes along with things like the college game not producing the talent due to a combination of issues (NIL/transfers/systems that really aren't compatible with the NFL/etc...), and NFL rules screwing things up (both rules in terms of ability to practice and rules in terms of play on the field) and the like.
So, I don't think there's any question that the NFL is down right now, just as I don't think there's any question that music largely went to shit in the mid-to-late 90's, as many of the great heavy metal bands aged out, country music devolved into pop music with a steel guitar, jazz and blues faded even more from the scene, and pop began its collapse into a big ball of hip hop dominated shit. Just as I think that science fiction (and other literary genres) hit the skids because of the domination of the great publishing houses leading to cookie cutter crap being pushed over better quality stuff. Just as I think baseball hasn't been the same since the end of the 'roids era. Just as I think movie making has turned to shit for many of the same reasons that books have. Etc...
