Mike Shanahan should be ashamed of himself.

The last two minutes of today’s game in Detroit were the most pathetically coached of any games in the history of the Washington Redskins.

Down by just six points, the Redskins had a chance to get the ball back with just under two minutes of the clock. Detroit kicked off to Washington, who ran the ball out around the 25.

Inexplicably, Shanahan sent in backup quarterback Rex Grossman to take the snap.

Before we even get into the result, let's consider the decision.

In the offseason, Washington paid a high price for their franchise quarterback, Donovan McNabb: a second-round pick in 2010 and a third-rounder in 2011. McNabb instantly won over the locker room as part of a new infusion of leadership and gave the Redskins a new kind of swagger coming into the season.

The results have clearly been mixed, with McNabb’s success rate going up and down over the last few weeks. However, consider that the Redskins offensive line is in flux, stalwart Derrick Dockery has lost his starting job to a journeyman and both starting tackles have been banged up.

At this point in the game, in fact, starting right tackle Jamall Brown was out, and Stephon Heyer was in (Heyer you might remember has the unofficial NFL record of giving up two safeties in two straight weeks from two separate positions in 2009).

Detroit’s defensive line had been harassing McNabb all day; in fact, quite a few drives were kept alive just by No. 5’s feet alone.

Include in this that RB Ryan Torain had left the game at halftime with a tight hamstring, leaving just Keiland Williams in his place. Williams showed some flash running the ball, but clearly has trouble picking up the blitz; he nearly allowed McNabb to be sacked on two consecutive plays for safeties earlier in the game.

Then consider that the team was entering the two-minute drill, which means more receivers, less blockers for McNabb.

McNabb’s receivers aren’t lighting it up much either. Much has been made of the almost historic lack of depth at the position in Washington this season. In fact, starting this game was Anthony Armstrong, a flier with questionable hands, toughness and route-running who couldn’t crack the lineup in the Arena Football League just three years ago.

So, entering the two-minute drill, the Redskins have no blocking and no real receiving threat. In fact, all they have going for them is an aging franchise quarterback, who still has a strong enough arm to get the ball down the field when it counts.

And they bench him. For who?

Grossman’s record when the game is on the line is borderline pathetic: The guy has admitted he doesn't study hard enough in big games and coming up empty. His arm strength is average, certainly not as good as McNabb’s, and he isn’t a locker room leader. I doubt one guy in the locker room there thinks that Rex should be taking the snaps.

Grossman also hadn’t taken a regular season snap this year. But, inexplicably, Shanahan sends him in with the team in a winnable position, with all the handicaps the team had faced for the previous 58 minutes and no warm-up.

The result was comically predictable: Heyer blew a block, forcing Grossman backwards into another defender, where he fumbled the ball. Detroit then ran the ball back for a touchdown.

If that wasn’t bad enough, what happened next made the entire thing worse.

Grossman took the snaps after the ensuing kickoff. Running out of three-receiver sets (read: no Mike Sellers to help block), Grossman’s passes looked tentative at best. Many were high floaters. All the play calls were underneath and shallow routes, and he barely completed them in a wide open field with the Lions playing prevent defense.

When it came time to line the players back up to take the snap since the team was bereft of timeouts, the team took its time. Clearly they had given up.

But the most troubling thing about the move and the play-calling was this: There was simply one explanation that fits the facts about this seemingly inexplicable move.

The Redskins gave up. Entering the bye week, they inserted Grossman to see what he could do, to decide if they want to make a change during the next two weeks.

McNabb’s face when Detroit scored the touchdown said it all. He might as well have turned to the camera and said, “So, how’d that work out for you, Mike?”

Consider the facts: This Redskins team is down by six, and you have an experienced franchise quarterback to lead the charge. Probably it doesn’t go anywhere, but you try. You push the ball down the field. You give it everything you have left.

The Redskins didn’t do that.

This was the worst series of decisions that Redskin faithful have seen in the inept history of the Washington Redskins over the last 10-15 years. Given the years under Jim Zorn, Steve Spurrier and Vinny Cerrato, that’s certainly saying something.

Mike Shanahan, you should be embarrassed to call yourself an NFL coach. Think about that for the next two weeks.