Geez, after reading through all this, it looks like Whisenhunt is dead in the water without an arguable future HOF QB to run his offense. We don't have that and history and probability argues against us having one of these in the near future.
I know that Nix and Whaley are probably pining away for his services (it seems like GMs prefer the "safer" pick rather than the best person for the job). That said, I think Russ would block this sort of hire. Russ knows the fans have read this chapter before.
I dunno, the way this coaching search is shaping up, I think many of us on here are silently wishing we never fired Chan, but just Wanstanche.