Yes, people did. Well at least I did. We knew we can use QCD to compute loops and to some degree masses in the lattice. But there were serious doubts the underlying mathematical theory was sound.
For many it didn't even matter. It would just mean that at those energies the theory is not even valid.
replyI am not certain on the extend of this proof but QED is probably not sound on it's own and we have been using that even longer. lambda phi^4 behind symmetry breaking and the higgs is strongly believed to be unsound on its own.
Yes, but it has also been known for 50+ years that QED has a Landau pole and might be UV trivial or inconsistent, whereas QCD has asymptotic freedom and is thus controlled at UV.
replyMore to the point, QCD has been experimentally tested both at UV (deep inelastic scattering) and at IR, while the physical meaning of testing QED at UV Landau pole regime is unclear.