I also am split between hopes and fears.
And my list would resemble yours.
I'll add 1 concern: history.
It is simply difficult to come off a SB year. Win or lose. It's just tough.
Ex-Ram Michael Stewart does one of the podcasts (can't remember which one) and I had a sobering moment listening to him. He just said that history is against us this year. It's tough to come back the next year.
He wasn't trying to dash hopes. As an NFL vet, he just knows the reality. It is REALLY HARD to come back from the SB.
In the end, IMO, it comes down to McV's leadership.
He is a really good leader. And I think he is doing all the right things. But the simple question is, will it be enough? Especially with that opening schedule: CAR, NO, SEA, SF ... We could easily go 0-2 and be fighting for our lives.
And I think, as I have said before, that he has to ask more questions of defenses. I don't know that I would put it s you do in your list about the league figuring us out and McV having no answers. I can't see us collapsing on O. I do think, however, that he has to do more to stretch defenses and then break into the gaps.
Fortunately, he has a pretty impressive track record in both areas. He IS a wonderful leader. And he HAS adjusted offenses over the years.
I think ultimately the question is whether he is a coach good enough to have a run or if he is one of those impossibly rare coaches who can build and rebuild teams for multiple runs. I think if it's the former, we'll drop off. If it's the latter, we might do what few teams do and build on a SB year.
We'll see.
