Interesting. This is actually one of the big reasons why I prefer Chrome over FF. FF does the whole "make my tab bar scroll" while Chrome resizes the tabs to fit.
What about Chrome's implementation do you find more unwieldy than Firefox's?
Right now I have 159 tabs open -- I was curious so I decided to count. If I tried that in Chrome I'm pretty sure it would crash and burn hard, not to mention there would be no ability to keep it organized.
I know there are some research workflows that would allow me to do that as well, but I haven't really taken the time to dive into them after I found tab groups.
Hmm, new "Tab Groups" button. Wonder what it does!
The only way to figure out that UI, including how to exit back to the browser, is through trial and error or Google. At least tabs/tab groups closed in there (seriously, who adds an "x" to an undo changes button that permanently deletes it instead?) go in "recently closed tabs" now!
I don't think it is possible with chrome extensions either.
about:flags -> Enable Side Tabs
FYI, you can use the mousewheel to scroll the tabs.. without, it would be horrible