Thanks to this thread, I just rewatched the episode. It was every bit as good as I remembered, one of the best episodes in the entire franchise.
Still, it is funny how in the end when Jellico and Riker berate each other, they're both basically correct about the flaws of each other. Kudos for Troi keeping it cool in midst of all that macho posturing, and for Geordi to rising above his personal annoyance with Jellico and doing his best to actually get the mission to succeed. Riker was absolutely right that it would have ultimately been wrong to abandon Picard, but perhaps wait for couple of hours before throwing a tantrum and try to come up with an alternative plan to resolve the situation? The black mark against Riker in this episode is that it is really all about his ego from the beginning. He is instantly annoyed that Nechayev didn't give the command to him. Now other officers have their issues with Jellico too, but both Troi and LaForge do not take it personally, and try to get shit done regardless of the questionable approach of the new boss. So while I would never in million years say that Jellico would be a better captain than Picard, it is quite possible that he's a better captain than Riker would!