I think the parent comment acknowledges that it's indeed possible but all that are so many steps one shouldn't have to perform just to get to the feature.
Firefox wants to be customisable, but instead of features, its out-of-box experience is focused on sharing activity with Google and giving you sponsored bookmarks... I agree that the priorities there are not exactly user-focused.
It's 1 (official from Mozilla) extension to install (easily, from a simple marketplace) or 1 url and/or 2 command line flags to learn just long enough to bookmark them/add them to a shortcut file somewhere.
I don't feel like that is "so many steps". Two choices, one easy thing to do whichever path you chose.
The one thing is an extension still because Mozilla still doesn't think the UX is right and doesn't want to include it out of the box until they think the UX is 100% solid, especially for general users, not just power users. The other thing has active improvements to its out-of-the-box UX already in beta testing/slow rollout.
The only activity Firefox shares with Google is if you leave Google the default search, which is a real easy to change at the top of the Settings page.
Sponsored bookmarks are dumb but easy to ignore. It is also easy to replace the New Tab page with a Blank Page (also right at the top of the Settings page) if you really don't want to see it, and there are extensions for other New Tab Page options.
Sure, making a bit of money by setting the default search to Google and showing a couple icons of brands isn't exactly "user-focused" but it's just business, and it doesn't seem to be getting in the way of prioritizing user features.
Firefox wants to be customisable, but instead of features, its out-of-box experience is focused on sharing activity with Google and giving you sponsored bookmarks... I agree that the priorities there are not exactly user-focused.