That the All Blacks were in such disarray suggests they haven't got the talent many thought: that they aren't plucking test players off trees.
But throwing virtually all the peripheral talent on to Murrayfield, bound only by the experience of Richie McCaw, Daniel Carter and Ben Smith, the All Blacks were always going to look a rabble.
New combinations, inexperience and over exuberance to deliver...bad mix. Mass changes never work. Look at Wales - within a whisker of beating Australia one week; make 12 changes and within a whisker of losing to Fiji the next.
Continuity flies straight out of the window and of course the All Blacks were shambolic and head coach Steve Hansen, while disappointed, wasn't surprised. So why do it? Why take the risk of losing? Why not tinker - keep the guts of the top team and slip in the odd change?
There are two reasons why he didn't go down that route. The first is that he wants fresh legs, and eager minds to play Wales this week. He needs the big guns to be firing in a way they didn't in the respective final tests of 2012 and 2013.
More importantly, though, he needed to put the inexperienced brigade under duress and not have a glut of senior players on whom they could lean for answers.
Ask tough questions and you usually get intriguing answers - and that's exactly what happened in Edinburgh.
Did Hansen discover things - both good and bad - about some of those peripheral players? Were some of his opinions changed as a consequence?
"Yep. There was," he said with little hesitation. "There are some guys who played really, really well and others not so well. We will have a good discussion on Monday night when we come to pick the team."
Jeremy Thrush and Charles Piutau would be the two who probably did most to advance their cause.
On the flip side, Dominic Bird and TJ Perenara struggled. The former didn't run smart lines into contact and was hammered too many times, while his aerial work didn't reflect his height.
Perenara was undecided too often: took too long to clear the ball - and his kicks - while his decision-making was laboured at times.
And that's really what was confirmed in Edinburgh - that there is, as everyone already knew - a big difference between Aaron Smith and Perenara. It also became clear that the All Blacks need at least one of Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock on the field at all times.
Those two both jump and push; the others, with maybe the exception of Patrick Tuipulotu, only seem to be able to do one or the other.
Dane Coles is the only truly reliable lineout thrower and the All Blacks need him to stay fit more than perhaps they realised.
Victor Vito, athletic and quick, doesn't have the same abrasive edge as Kieran Read or the ability to dominate contact on his terms. The All Blacks are therefore a vastly superior team with Read at No 8.
Piutau and Colin Slade played well on the wings, but Julian Savea is simply a different beast. With his power and pace on the left wing, the All Blacks pose a greater threat. He also gives them the capacity to break the line in the midfield.
These were the findings from Edinburgh then: that Coles, Retallick/Whitelock, Read, Smith and Savea - as well as McCaw - are irreplaceable.
The All Blacks, without those players, are beatable. The biggest challenge for the coaching team is to reduce the reliance on those men between now and the World Cup.
- Gregor Paul of the Herald on Sunday in Cardiff