Chelsea were riding the crest of a wave between the Champions League final last May and the first competitive ball being kicked in Belfast against Villarreal.
What had felt like a mostly disappointing season had ended in the most spectacular of ways, a moment in time where a group of doubted players joined the icons of 2012's Munich triumph to skyrocket the club back to the top of European football.
This did not leave much time for serious introspection. Chelsea were champions of Europe, there was a sense of swagger from those on the Fulham Road. Anyone broader questions about the squad's quality felt inappropriate.
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Even those who would class themselves as experts presumed Thomas Tuchel and his players would only improve. This was a world-class group of players who would compete with Manchester City and Liverpool in the Premier League.
You contrast the feeling the day after the final game of Chelsea's 2020/21 season to that of the Monday after the 2021/22 campaign has ended. It could not be starker.
It feels naive not to mention the change in ownership from Roman Abramovich to Todd Boehly's consortium, the sanctions and months of uncertainty. That is the event that will transcend anything that has happened this season forever.
Even in a year when Chelsea played 63 games, reaching both domestic cup finals and becoming World Champions, the post-mortem will be dominated by the seismic events off the pitch. That is how this season will be remembered in the history books.
Sunday's game against an already relegated Watford was played out with the lowest of stakes on a final day where the drama happening elsewhere seeped into Stamford Bridge. Taking supporters' interest away from the game in front of them to glee at events unfolding in Manchester.
Chelsea fans, and maybe those in the hierarchy, presumed Tuchel's Champions League brilliance would quickly translate into vast Premier League improvement. Although the raw numbers from this season will show Chelsea getting their highest points tally since the last title win under Antonio Conte five years ago, the gap to the eventual champions of 19 points remaining the same tells its own story.
The win in Porto made many feel like Abramovich's famed ruthless streak had done the trick once more, and soon the Blues would be set back on their regular path. But the landscape of the league is vastly different to the one that saw Chelsea go from tenth to first in under 12 months under Conte in 2017.
Back then, the league was more chaotic, and individual talent still had the ability to excel over long-term system building. It feels telling that Chelsea's last title came in Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp's first-full seasons in English football. In the five seasons since, Chelsea have finished below both coaches.
Maligning the differences in coaching, system and recruitment between Chelsea and the top two is not a revealing point. However, it is one that can no longer be masked by glorious cup wins. Ones that have ended pretty disappointing league campaigns in happiness.
An average film can be elevated by a superb third-act, something that Chelsea's 2020/21 narrative greatly benefitted from as people quickly forgot the pretty woeful end in the league that saw Tuchel's side almost throw away a place in the top four.
The remaining weeks of this season, although overshadowed by the ownership saga, have brought the current squad's limitations into greater focus, and harsher realities have been endorsed by more minds. Not only does a change in ownership naturally bring the Roman Abramovich era to its end. It also coincides with a squad rebuild that has needed to happen for several years.
2021/22 had its fair share of new highs in the Club World Cup win and multiple trips to Wembley, but it cemented why Chelsea's short-term fixes can no longer be leaned upon to circumvent tougher decisions and more refined recruitment, something the Todd Boehly era can hopefully rectify.
