Is it not a bit early to be pointing the finger at the lift fan - for all we know this operated as expected, but the engine did not?
Since seeing the 1st images of shipboard testing on USS Wasp, I've always though the the front gear simply wasn't designed with consideration to the task in hand. It looks more like you would expect to find on a ground based aircraft, not from something that may have to dump itself onto a heaving & pitching deck with bringback (possibly). Is praiseworthy bringback a thing with VL or only SRVL?