Bears at Redskins: The Show Must Go On

Chicago Bears (5-7) at Washington Redskins (5-7)
8:15 p.m. FedEx Field
If one more person blames Sunday’s loss on emotional carryover, I’m going to scream. I could see if the Redskins showed up, went through the motions and were blown out. But the Redskins got a two score second half lead and then methodically lost it. They’ve been doing that all season. With or without Sean Taylor. Taylor’s death had very little, if anything, to do with last week’s loss.

Once again, the play-calling on both sides of the ball was horrendous for most of the game. Three times the Redskins had 1st and Goal inside the five-yard line, and the first two times they didn’t have a single running play. Facing one of the NFL’s worst run defenses. Does that make any sense to you? Not surprisingly, they failed to score a touchdown on either one of those drives. Is Sean Taylor somehow responsible for that too?

I’m all for dedicating the rest of the season to Sean. It would be great if they did it next season as well. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very proud of the fact that the team even showed up, let alone played competitively. But you can’t go blaming losses on him, especially when those losses are eerily similar to the losses the team suffered when he was playing.

Much has been made of the timeout that Joe Gibbs called. I have heard many stories as to why he called the timeout. Some have said that he asked the referee whether he could call it or not, and the ref either said yes or said something that would have led Gibbs to assume he could call one. Others have said that Gibbs didn’t actually call the timeout, someone near him on the bench did. I’ve even seen a random wacko say that after Gibbs saw Rian Lindell’s first 51-yard field goal go through, he knew that he’d make it again despite being iced. So Gibbs intentionally called the timeout so that he, and he alone, could be blamed for the loss and his team wouldn’t feel completely terrible after losing a game they dedicated to their former teammate.

Those are all good conspiracies, but I doubt any of them are true. Gibbs simply didn’t know the rule and it cost him 15 yards. That mistake alone probably didn’t cost the Redskins the game since I am on board with the idea that Lindell would have made the field goal anyway. His 36-yarder was right down the middle and would have been good from 55 or 60. It is just another embarrassing coaching decision in a year filled with them.

People want to blame Gibbs for the bad play-calling. Some of it is him, but most of it is Al Saunders. I don’t think people realize that Saunders calls at least 75% of the plays. So to put all the blame on Gibbs is ridiculous. It was Saunders who called all those passing plays at the goal line. It was Saunders who tried running the clock out with 5-and-a-half minutes still remaining. You can only blame Gibbs for so much.

However, the second straight timeout is inexcusable. How does Gibbs not know the rule? It’s not like that’s a new rule. You haven’t been able to call consecutive timeouts for a while now. My friend was watching the game with his 10-year old cousin. Even the 10-year old knew you couldn’t do that. When he plays Madden ’08, the game doesn’t allow him to call two consecutive timeouts. If he knows it, Gibbs should know it. The head coach of a football team has a million tasks, duties and responsibilities. Not just on the field, but off it as well. Knowing the rulebook is one of the top priorities. Knowing all the rules is an absolute must for all NFL coaches. There are no excuses for not knowing one.

It was a fitting end to a miserable day at FedEx Field. Despite the loss, the Redskins organization did a very classy job honoring Sean Taylor. The five-minute tribute video at the stadium was stellar. Whoever put that together deserves a major promotion. There were very few dry eyes in the press box after that was over (and I can imagine there weren’t many in the crowd either). As you might have assumed, the atmosphere at the stadium was very unusual. Not a lot of drinking or tailgating. No real yelling in the parking lot. The crowd never really got that loud during the game. Pretty much as everyone expected. It will be interesting to see what happens tonight.

Somehow, the Redskins are still only one game out of a playoff spot. How that is possible, I can’t tell you. The Skins still own tiebreakers over Arizona and Detroit. They have a chance to own tiebreakers over Minnesota and Chicago. They can still very easily play themselves into the final playoff spot. They will most likely have to win out, but in the NFC, 8-8 may be good enough for the wild card.

The Bears come in with their own problems. They are 5-7, just like the Redskins. They suffered a heart-breaking and agonizing defeat last week, just like the Redskins. They recently benched Adam Archuleta and put him on special teams…just like the Redskins.

We all know that Devin Hester is the only weapon that the Bears have. He has 10 return touchdowns for the Bears in less than two seasons, by far the most in the NFL during that time. He’s also lost 13 fumbles in that same span (something the media never really brings up). Again, that’s the most in the NFL during that time. I don’t really mind the Redskins challenging him as long as they angle the kicks to the sideline. You cannot let him field the ball in between the hashmarks. I will stand by my previous statements about Hester. Enjoy him while you can. Returners in the NFL have very short career-spans. For every Brian Mitchell and Eric Metcalf, there are at least twenty Michael Lewises. Has anyone seen Dante Hall recently?

As long as the Redskins are able to neutralize Hester, they should have no problems with the Bears offense. Rex Grossman is back behind center. There is no more debate about “Good Rex” and “Bad Rex”. Good Rex no longer exists. Now it’s just “Bad Rex”, “Slightly Better Than Eli Manning Rex” and “Abysmally Awful Rex”. The two-headed monster of Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson at running back is no more. Jones currently plays for one of the New Jersey teams and Benson is out for the season with an injury (real shocker there…who couldn’t have seen that coming). Now the Bears are reliant on Adrian Peterson (no, not that Adrian Peterson…the Redskins will see him in two weeks). The best offensive weapons may be the tight ends Desmond Clark and Greg Olsen. And it’s not like either one of them is going to be mistaken for Antonio Gates.

The Bears defense, once the pride of the team, is rapidly getting old and suffering from numerous injuries. The secondary, especially deep down field, is very vulnerable. If that’s not enough, the Bears have allowed opposing running backs to crack the 100-yard mark in eight straight games. Brian Urlacher, once the most feared linebacker in the NFC, is showing just how average he is now that he doesn’t have stud defensive tackles to keep blockers off of him.

So let’s see…the Bears have an aging defense, an anemic offense and decent special teams. Basically, the Redskins are facing the NFC’s version of the Baltimore Ravens. Add in a cold night in Washington, and that should be enough to ensure that “Bad Rex” rears his head and the Bears playoff hopes come to an official end. That would mean the Redskins would still be alive in the conference. But if they come out flat and lose, please don’t blame it on Sean.