No.
Public opinion was shifting further and further in favor of Apple the longer this went on.
So they admitted they could do the job without Apple.
This was never about gaining the capacity to learn what is on a phone when it is needed.
This was always about gaining the capacity to unobtrusively scan any phone at any time completely, on a whim.
I never supported apple but I support nsa searches requiring a search warrant. This, too, was a clear search warrant case to me. Beyond that, it was a national security issue. As such covert means to break a code used by an enemy would have been nothing out of the ordinary for the covert services.