No, the whole FW-190/Bearcat argument devolves simply from whether the Focke-Wulf was a small-airframe/big-engine "innovation" that inspired the design of a retrograde (in terms of being substantially smaller and lighter) U.S. fighter built to the same parameters. It had nothing to do with whether the Focke-Wulf had a cooling fan, or a tighter cowl, or wider landing gear...it was much more basic than that. There were no specific FW-190 features, such as fuel injection (which actually I'm not sure the -190 had) or automatic power control (which the Americans in fact didn't like) that found their way into the F8F.
The Americans were building bigger and heavier fighters, even getting well into twin-engine fighters (F7F, P-38, F-82) and the legend is that the Germans pointed the way in a different direction. To me, it's equivalent to an American engineer driving a 300SLR and then going home to design a Viper...
I don't know that I buy the Bearcat/Focke-Wulf legend, but I'm still trying to research it.
And you people are all a huge help. Thank you!