Inflation theory was concocted as a way of making the BB work. However, it itself is riddled with problems.
“Our universe is around 13.8 billion years old”
Problem: gravity bends time; and time is not a constant.
If you traveled at nearly the speed of light to the edge of the Milky Way and back again, about 40 years would have passed for you; but earth would have aged 100,000 years in that time.
After the “big bang” mass flowed out into space faster than the speed of light — which is theoretically impossible; unless, that is, time itself was compressed.
So how long did it take the universe to form? A trillionth of a trillionth of a second? And a minute more to coalesce into elements?