Damn shame how they did Howard. It really puts you in this situation of do you hate jimmy or is he still a sympathetic character? Would any of this happened had Chuck believed in jimmy.
Better Call Saul should do a Marvel-style "What if....?" cartoon where Chuck believes in Jimmy and he eventually becomes an established lawyer at the firm, but is often making suspect decisions and they have to clean up after him all the time. He's a constant headache who is probably more trouble than he's worth.
Eventually Jimmy blows their chances in a big case and they lose the client. There's rumors that there may even be a misconduct investigation. Chuck says to Howard, "Sometimes I think it was all a big mistake. I never should have believed in Jimmy and given him another chance. This has to be a worst case scenario."
That night the Ghost of Alternative Realities shows up in Chuck's bedroom. He shows Chuck a world where no one believed in Jimmy. Albuquerque devolves into madness as Chuck suffers a complete mental breakdown and burns himself to death in his own home, sadistic murderer Lalo is released from prison to prey upon the public, and Howard is publicly humiliated before getting his brains blown out by Lalo.
The next day Chuck shows shows up in the office with bloodshot eyes. He pats Jimmy on the back, says, "No hard feelings bub, we'll get through this together!" and walks on eggshells for a while.....