Safari 14.0.1 (16610.3.6.3) on MacBook Air (M1, 2020) Does Not Honor "Open page in tabs instead of windows: Never" Setting

I have Safari set to NEVER open pages in tabs, yet Safari continues to open links in tabs. I hate this behavior because it's often difficult to find the newly-opened tab, as it opens in an existing Safari window (I'm thinking it likes to open tabs in the last used Safari window). It does not behave this way on my iMac 2017 with same setting. What gives? Please help, it's driving my crazy. Can someone else at least confirm this behavior is not unique to me?

Thanks!