Mike Shanahan and Washington Redskins must face need to rebuild
By Mike Wise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 5, 2010; 9:11 PM
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.
At least the pretense is gone, the facade of competing for something meaningful ruthlessly peeled away like the football was six times from Redskins players on Sunday afternoon - the day the Washington Redskins' season was buried beneath this cold, dank plot of land hard off the New Jersey Turnpike.
R.I.P., Hope. See ya, Renewal. As usual, we hardly knew ye.
Born Jan. 5, 2010, after the hiring of Mike Shanahan, bolstered in April by the blockbuster trade for Donovan McNabb, they expired for Washington's once-again woeful NFL team in the south end zone, snuffed out in the middle of the third quarter, in the swirling winds of New Meadowlands Stadium after the fourth unanswered touchdown seemed to bring back that familiar phrase:
Wait, what day is the NFL draft?
They're playing for future employment now.
Goodbye, postseason.
Hello, job security.
Adios, hopefully, to "We can win now" spin.
Hola to harsh truth, to "back up the truck."
Today is the day Mike Shanahan needs to stop pretending and start rebuilding in earnest, the day the architect of this franchise's future needs to be spare and fussy with his words, to cut the charade and say what he feels.
For instance:
"Beat it, Albert. We tried. We really tried. But in the end, you didn't care. And when you don't care, you Aintworth nothin'."
When a good number of dependable veteran defensive players spend upward of 45 minutes explaining why Haynesworth was deactivated Sunday against the Giants, when those same players spent much of the off-season and training camp either covering or eviscerating their teammate - depending on whether they feel Big Al crossed the line - it's time to end the relationship.
The Redskins are going the same place with Haynesworth they were headed without him: to their third straight offseason without a playoff date.
At this point, Shanahan is the proverbial teacher who has spent too much time on the rotten-apple kid in homeroom, to the point that the hard-working kids have now had their educations adversely affected. Expel him from class and school. Personal tragedy and professional nightmare of a season for Albert aside, this school simply can't help him reach his potential and he can't help the Redskins reach theirs.
After the most deflating day of his first season as coach, Shanahan also needs to take a hard look at the message going forward, to draw a clear distinction between supplementing a roster with useful parts that might make one playoff run in this parity-stricken NFL landscape and legitimately refurbishing this decaying historic district that is the NFL's oldest team. Importing fast and hungry college kids, draft picks that make sense for the long term - not relics whom no other team will offer a contract.
If this is indeed a copycat league, forget about remaining contemporary with the 3-4 defense; commit to what Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Philadelphia and Detroit, to some measure, have committed to the past couple of years with impressive results: getting younger, faster and competitive again for not just one or two years, but perhaps five.
If Shanahan were to sum up his off-season motivations and say, "Look, I'm 57 and I'm not going to do this forever - I wanted to win now for everybody," folks might actually appreciate the honesty.
He could further explain, "When we thought about a potential lockout, we figured, what the heck, we'll roll the dice this season. Best-case scenario, I thought we could pull off a playoff berth with the talent we had. But you throw in injuries, our highest-paid and most talented defensive player not interested in truly being a part of us, we were worried. Then you throw in Donovan's inability to pick up our offense in any timely manner, we started to think 8-8. But now I know: I've got to stop thinking reload and start really getting serious about rebuild."
Now, My-Way Mike being the clandestine sort of coach who doesn't believe in divulging injuries, much less times of practices, games and why it is important to eat breakfast in the morning, that will never happen.
But after 31-7, New York, after this awful exhibition of pro football brought Washington's postseason dreams to a halt, changing the culture has to be about more than just meticulous organization and unquestioned belief by his players (who privately backed his decision to bench Haynesworth). It needs to be about parting with the old and welcoming the new.
As key free agents go, bring Santana Moss back within financial reason. Clinton Portis can stay too, if he comes back healthy and takes less money. Think hard on Carlos Rogers, though, before committing.
After that and several other keepers like McNabb, Chris
ey, Brian Orakpo and LaRon Landry, it's re-evaluation time. It's demolition month.
After Sunday, there is no other choice. A litany of missed tackles. Inept offense. A total embarrassment.
Zeroing in on the precise moment a season died is not a perfect science. But the vision of London Fletcher at the 24-yard-line midway through the third quarter clearly qualified Sunday afternoon.
Hands on hips in utter disbelief, the veteran middle linebacker had just watched Brandon Jacobs high-step into the end zone, barely caressed by safety Reed Doughty and a defense that had just ceded its fourth touchdown.
The ignominy of Devin Thomas blocking a punt late in the fourth was just dirt on the grave.
"What was that?" Fletcher asked of Jacobs's 28-yard touchdown run. "Extreme frustration. We knew what they were going to run. We had the right defense called. And it didn't matter."
At 35 years of age, Fletcher is going on 12 years since he last won a Super Bowl and 10 years since he's played in the big game.
Of all the people in the organization who stills buys into hope and renewal with Shanahan, it is Fletcher. To see both expire here Sunday reinforces the need to genuinely change the culture, to part with No. 92 and genuinely begin a complete refurbishing.
There is no pretense anymore. It's over.
