That’s the way these things go. It is a chain of failures that lead to the eventual crash.
The decision to fly in marginal conditions
The decision to proceed to destination
The decision to rely on VFR
Finally, you are left in a position where a single additional failure winds up being fatal. A loss of power, spatial disorientation, interfering traffic or who-knows-what, and you are out of speed, out of altitude, and out of time.
It is a depressingly familiar pattern that happens multiple times every month.
I wonder if some of the passengers applied pressure to the pilot to get going so they won’t miss the game.