I agree - at his height he was on fire. More than anything he’s an amazing entertainer, and decent guitarist. imo
That’s pretty much what I intended in the OP. My exposure to Springsteen has been a ‘Dancing in the Dark’ video on MTV and what I hear on the radio. I’d never thought that he was actually a damn good guitar player. I think he missed out…Maybe he should’ve stuck to the rock 'n roll roots of his and kept jamming. (Well, I’m sure he’s not poor…I’d guess he’d have more fans now if he’d have unleashed some technical brilliance instead of getting Ms. Cox on the stage). 
If you play the guitar long enough, you are going to get good at it. It’s as simple as that, really. Considering how long Springsteen has held a guitar, he should be a much better player than he is. Hell, John Mayer is a much better guitar player than Springsteen and he isn’t a guitar god.
Chet Atkins is a guitar god.
Steve Vai and Satriani are demigods
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eddie Van Halen are gods in their respective fields.
Bruce Springsteen is David Koresh.
Euthanasiast <----- David Koresh’s gimp
He’s plenty popular. His concerts sell out in an hour or so. Heck, when he was in St. Paul last May, my daughter had tickets within 15 minutes at the regular price. Then she decided to try for better seats, so she logged on again and they were gone. This was in less than half an hour. She ended up paying $200 for tickets through a broker.
She’s in St. Louis this weekend to see him again, for the umpteenth time.
I saw him in Ames about ten years ago – best concert I’ve ever been to. I didn’t notice his guitar playing except to note that (in my limited experience) he was competent, and that he didn’t hog the stage. I’ve been to concerts where the lead singer plays guitar, and even though they’re not nearly as good as others in the band, they keep center stage. With Springsteen, it was like he was saying “Hey, look at this guy play over here, ain’t he great!”
I don’t think guitar-playing is his strength anyway. It’s his stage presence and his song-writing.