When counting Super Bowls and attaching credit, the conversations tend to gravitate around the quarterback position. But like a balloon on a string, the only thing keeping those quarterbacks stable and tied to the ground is a strong force at center.
Many great teams had great centers and offensive turnarounds have often correlated with upgrades at the center position. Two obvious examples from the last five years being Alex Mack joining the Falcons and John Sullivan signing with the Rams.
Regardless of his absence being the cause of it or not, Los Angeles hasn’t played as well offensively since Sullivan retired and Mack happens to be among the free agent centers this offseason.