Washington Redskins' Cirque Du Soleil: No Light at End of the Tunnel for Team

This season has turned into the same old story out of Washington for the Redskins.: A team that looks like a possible playoff contender on paper turns into a circus that should be showcased under the big top. 

Since the end of the season, Snyder brought in the big name ring leader/magician (Mike Shanahan) and a star attraction (Donovan McNabb). These two moves were seen received with much different reactions. 

McNabb’s arrival in the Capital seemed like it was the beginning of a good years ahead for the Redskins.

He’s an All-Pro caliber quarterback and possibly a future Hall of Famer. His stats speak for themselves: In 12 years, McNabb’s accumulated a 106-69 win-loss in games he’s played, 230 touchdowns, 115 interceptions, 85.7 QB Rating, 59% completion and 36,250 yards passing. While never to win the big one, his 9-7 record in the playoffs is pretty good none the less. Most of his years in Philly were with teams that truly overachieved with not much high end talent surrounding the 1999 second pick overall. 

Only recently did the talent finally appear in Philadelphia. There was much fanfare with the trade that brought him to Washington as most thought this was the end of the merry-go-round at the quarterback position that had been in place since the 1980’s. 

When Shanahan was announced as the new head coach of the Washington Redskins following the 2009 season, it was seen as a foregone conclusion. Most knew half way through the season that Jim Zorn was done and Snyder was looking for a big name to fill the position and Shanahan being that name started at the same time.

His arrival wasn’t received with quite as much fanfare. His last years in Denver were seen as mediocre at best, considering early in his Denver stint they won two Super Bowls. He won the super bowls with a hall of fame quarterback in John Elway and a top flight running back in Terrell Davis. 

His career 159-111 record including playoffs are good but a winning percentage of .589 for Shanahan to McNabb’s .606 is proof enough.  

Everyone would assume that the ring leader with a good star attraction could deliver a floundering team from the darkness; what happened is the team has fallen deeper into the abyss. 

Starting in the offseason, the egos of the ring leader and his main sideshow in Albert Haynesworth crossed paths and became daily news on the Washington sports pages. With a 100 million dollar contract and not being one of Shanahan’s own players, this was a bad combination from the start. 

Now with the owner’s first main attraction sitting on the bench suspended from the team, the smoke and mirror act of Shanahan has reared its head.

The smoke and mirror act continue with Shanahan’s dealings with McNabb. The shine on the owner’s new toy dulled quickly while the circus was on tour in Detroit. Being pulled for Rex Grossman based on the bad conditioning excuse was just the beginning. 

Next, McNabb signed a five-year deal that gives the Redskins the option to release the all-pro at the end of the season. Now he’s been replaced by Grossman permanently for the rest of the season. 

Reason: I want to see what we have at the quarterback position.

The simple answer is you replaced an all-pro quarterback in favor of a mediocre, injury prone back-up. While McNabb wasn’t having a great year, he’s still the best option the Redskin’s have at the quarterback position.

Grossman, in eight seasons, has only made it through one full season without being pulled or injured. His career stats of 37 touchdowns, 38 interceptions, 70.6 QB rating and a 24-17 career record don’t compare with McNabb’s.     

Another answer isn’t on the roster, it’s shockingly in the circus financier, Daniel Snyder. It’s time to let one person run football operations and it shouldn’t be Mike Shanahan. Bruce Allen is more than capable to have full control of roster decisions as the general manager.

Shanahan needs to be shown the gate and up and coming ring master should be hired to deliver the Redskins from the bottom of the Potomac.