Maybe when Firefox was at 33% and Google was just starting to gain major dominance in Chrome, Firefox should have realized the game was changing and tried block

Maybe when Firefox was at 33% and Google was just starting to gain major dominance in Chrome, Firefox should have realized the game was changing and tried blocking ads for Chrome or even lying to Google properties that it was Chrome (as Microsoft Edge now is capable of even though Microsoft AFAIK hasn't flipped the switch). If Google complained, Firefox could say it was a response to anticompetitive behavior. Google would then be a catch-22 where if they cut Firefox's default search funding, they would be inviting lawsuits and investigations. It wouldn't be a healthy relationship but it would have given Firefox a stronger footing than right now. But Firefox just naively believed adding more fluff like Pocket and paying their executives ludicrous sums of cash would do the trick. You can't do that - you need to get into the mindset that Google wants to kill you and has the power and brand to do it, so you need to fight and stop the bleeding or get killed.