Hopeless in Washington

Last Update: 10/29 4:12 pm

Chad Johnson #85 of the Cincinnati Bengals stands on the field during the NFL game against the Washington Redskins on December 14, 2008 at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Bengals won 20-13. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

by John Lindsay
Scripps Howard News Service

Has an NFL team actually not returned from a bye week? That may be the situation the Redskins are facing here in Washington.

Having grown up in this area and watched the team for more than 40 years under 12 different coaches, nothing compares to the pitiful state of the franchise right now. And I do mean franchise.

No at 2-5, the Redskins are not close to being the NFL's worst team on the field. But they are challenging the Raiders as the NFL's worst franchise.

Consider the last month or so. First the Redskins failed to take advantage of a tissue-soft schedule that presented them five consecutive winless teams in their first six games (they managed just a 2-3 mark in those games).

Somehow, it all turned into the tipping point for one of the NFL's largest but frustrated and angry fan bases. First, barely 50,000 showed up at 92,000-seat FedEx Field for a dreary loss to Kansas City. Then they turned odd, overmatched coach Jim Zorn into a nationally sympathetic figure by stripping him of his play-calling duties, going so far as to pull out his contract to remind him that he must adhere to any and all of management's demands.

Then in Monday night's loss to the Eagles, the ugliness spread into the stands.

Reports continue to swirl of security officials confiscating any banner critical of the team or owner Dan Snyder, who needed a phalanx of security in his own stadium. Security also reportedly attempted to eject fans for wearing bags over their heads or chanting "Sell the team'' or "Snyder must go!''

In the end, the real problem is the dysfunctional front office, which goes back to the meddlesome Snyder and his lackey-director of football operations Vinny Cerrato. They have squandered so many draft picks and signed countless free-agent busts that it boggles the mind.

The solution has been to change coaches, which Snyder has done five times in the last nine years. No matter what Zorn's shortcomings are, Redskins fans now realize that he's hardly that much of the problem.

The final, chilling stat for Redskins fans? The imperious Snyder does not turn 44 until next week, which means his brand of nonsense could go on for generations.

The whole thing reminds me of the way the Republicans and Democrats battle for control on Capitol Hill. You get the feeling both sides would rather lose their way than succeed with the other guy.

As long has Snyder clings to that dream of hoisting the Super Bowl trophy and telling his millions of critics to stick it, nothing will change in Washington.

Call it gridlock, NFL-style with the hope of all Redskins fans a sad casualty.

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John Lindsay - Scripps Howard News Service, Washington

John Lindsay is sports editor for Scripps Howard News Service in Washington, D.C. Writing sports since 1985, John Lindsay has covered NFL, MLB, college football and basketball and major golf events for several newspapers in his career and has been a Heisman Trophy voter since 1996.

Tom Korun - WFTS, Tampa

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