Redskins have spent 21 years in the wilderness
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Version 0 of 1. “Welcome, after a lengthy absence, to Losing Big Time in the NFL,” Michael Wilbon once wrote to Redskins fans. “It’s ugly, isn’t it? And the games are only the half of it….This is a day-to-day, year-after-year proposition in the Tampas and Cincinnatis of the world. Long after every other team in the NFL has passed this way, it appears to be the Redskins’ turn.” Wilbon published those words on Dec. 28, 1993. Which means they celebrated their 21st birthday as the Cowboys were stomping on the Redskins Sunday afternoon. Losing Big Time in the NFL, in this town, is now old enough to drink. Better make it a double. “Two weeks ago after a loss in Tampa Bay, [Norv] Turner said the Redskins had hit rock bottom,” Thomas Boswell wrote the following year. “What he didn’t realize was that Rock Bottom is like a cheap motel; once you arrive there, you can rent a room and stay there indefinitely. The Redskins may soon be eligible for citizenship.” Those 1993-94 seasons have felt especially relevant in recent days. That was the last time the Redskins had as bad a record in back-to-back seasons. (Like now, they were 7-25 over a two-year span.) That was also the last time a first-year Redskins coach finished with a record as bad as Jay Gruden’s. (In 1993 Richie Petitbon was 4-12, and in 1994, Turner was an even-worse 3-13.) There was a significant difference, though. In 1993-94 — after more than a decade as NFL royalty, when out-of-town kids like me regarded the Redskins as something like the Yankees or Lakers — Washington fans were suddenly left to grapple with losing and disappointment and failure. In 2013-14, Redskins fans have accepted their inevitability. “Go, cleanse, reboot, get on with your life and career,” Redskins fan Claire Tieder advised Jay Gruden, in an e-mail sent to media members Monday morning. “You can’t accomplish anything meaningful in Washington. Sad but true. Save yourself — you aren’t the captain, and the ship is going down fast. You don’t have to go down with it. Same is true for any players of worth who can get out before the decay destroys them, too.” This is NFL nihilism at its worst, the stuff you expect to find on the banks of Lake Erie, not in D.C. You half expect Dante to begin offering sideline commentary, or seeking out Virgil in the bowels of FedEx Field. And it was all foretold in that 21-year old Wilbon column. “The most humiliating thing is that there’s plenty of blame to go around, from veterans to youngsters, head coach and assistants, general manager and maybe even the scouts,” he wrote. “Plenty of teams have been able to rebound from an awful season or two. What the Redskins simply have to find out beginning with the new year is whether a season of losing has left them losers.” The answer seems obvious. NFC teams have won at least 11 games 69 times since Wilbon wrote that column. Washington is the only team never to have done it. There have been 42 NFC championship game participants since Wilbon wrote that column. Only Washington and Detroit have missed out. Over the last seven seasons, 14 of the NFC’s 16 teams have had at least two winning seasons. Only Washington and St. Louis have not. There are only so many ways to say the same thing: that Washington fans have lost all hope. But we keep saying it anyhow, because what else are we supposed to say? The left tackle is pretty good? That one linebacker gets a lot of sacks? The punter punts his punts far? “I want to know why anybody thinks they’re going to turn this around next year,” Tony Kornheiser said on ESPN 980′s Monday morning show. “It’s the most hopeless it’s been pretty much in our memory,” that station’s Kevin Sheehan said. “I’ve never felt this way at the end of the season,” Andy Pollin said. “I go back to ’66. I can’t think of an end of the season like this.” “I’m exhausted by it,” Doc Walker said. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt like this before.” “To me this is bottom,” 106.7 The Fan’s Eric Bickel tweeted. “NO coach or player/players will change this situation. We’re years away from being consistently competitive. YEARS.” That sense of being at rock bottom certainly feels raw and honest and somehow new. But that happened in 93-94, too. “We’re probably at rock-bottom right now,” Petitbon said a few weeks before Wilbon introduced us to the NFL Wilderness. “This is it. Rock Bottom,” David Aldridge wrote that same year. “For the Redskins franchise, the anointment of Gus Frerotte to the job of Jurgensen and Kilmer, Baugh and Theismann, Rypien and Williams, surely marks rock bottom,” Boz wrote in 1994. “This is as low as you can get,” Turner said in 1994. “We’re about as low as you can get,” Ken Harvey said then. “Living in the nation’s capital, you know you’re going to be the butt of jokes,” Kornheiser wrote. “You expect Leno and Letterman to hammer away each night at Bill Clinton, Marion Barry, Newt Gingrich and any screw-up in the federal government. We’re used to being the target of the talk shows. But we’re not used to being the laughingstock of the NFL. This hurts.” “The descent is over,” Darrell Green said. “We’ve been on the ground for some time now.” That was two decades ago. The few times they’ve left the ground since then, gravity has quickly stepped in. And so this year, there were fans like Ben Shand, who showed up at the season finale just to tailgate, and left after tossing his tickets on an open flame. .@dcsportsbog #firetheowner #Redskins #RedskinsNation #httr https://t.co/G7EjZwlNjh — Brotorius (@Brotorius) December 28, 2014 .@dcsportsbog #firetheowner #Redskins #RedskinsNation #httr https://t.co/G7EjZwlNjh — Brotorius (@Brotorius) December 28, 2014 “I didn’t think the Redskins were going to win,” the 31-year old said, when I asked why he left. “I’m sick and tired of watching this team play. And this year was kind of the worst of all the years, because I lost all hope.” Of course, before he burned his tickets, Shand put the bar codes on the NFL ticket exchange, and made his money back, probably by selling to a Dallas fan. “I don’t feel bad at all,” he said. “I don’t care about this franchise anymore.” Or take Brent, the pediatric cardiologist behind the Burgundy Blog site. Two years ago, Brent coined and helped popularize “Griffining;” on Sunday, he announced he was giving up Twitter until the Redskins hire a general manager or make the playoffs. Does it matter if one of your most ardent fans attempts to reorganize his life because of your failings? Probably not. But what else is he supposed to do? After today’s game, I’m walking away from Twitter until Bruce Allen is replaced as #Redskins GM. — Burgundy Blog (@BurgundyBlog) December 28, 2014 After today’s game, I’m walking away from Twitter until Bruce Allen is replaced as #Redskins GM. — Burgundy Blog (@BurgundyBlog) December 28, 2014 Don’t let these same frauds sell you false hope again. Demand better. It’s been real. — Burgundy Blog (@BurgundyBlog) December 28, 2014 Don’t let these same frauds sell you false hope again. Demand better. It’s been real. — Burgundy Blog (@BurgundyBlog) December 28, 2014 “Obviously based on my investment to this point, I follow the team really closely, and take it probably too seriously, to an irrational level,” he told me on Monday. “All the misery has just finally become too much. I’m not quitting the team or being a fan, but it’s become too much….If someone like me has made a pretty serious, concrete decision to consciously step back, I’m pretty sure lots of others have as well, and people have told me exactly that.” The only thing you can say is it’ll get better eventually. DeAngelo Hall tried that route. “Redskins fans I know it’s tough,” he wrote on Twitter. “Storms come and go. And I know our storm’s been long. Makes victory that much sweeter.” That it would. Theoretically. If the storm ever ends. @Redskins fans I know it's tough. Storms come and go. And I know our storms been long. Makes victory that much sweeter. 2015 here I come — DeAngelo Hall (@DeAngeloHall23) December 29, 2014 @Redskins fans I know it's tough. Storms come and go. And I know our storms been long. Makes victory that much sweeter. 2015 here I come — DeAngelo Hall (@DeAngeloHall23) December 29, 2014 |