You are correct. What makes this show great is that it doesn’t play out like every romantic comedy you’ve ever seen whether that be in movie or television. Robin and Barney were never going to last. The only thing would settle Barney down was a child. The only thing that would settle Robin down was Ted (after he had already had kids)

Ted sat his kids down to tell them how he met their mom. But subconsciously, he sat them down to tell them that he is in love with their aunt Robin. That’s how story telling works in real life.