LANDOVER — The Washington Redskins. The Rock Bottom Redskins. The Paper Bag Redskins.
The “We’re Close” Redskins. The “We’re-So-Far-Away-You-Couldn’t-Find-Us-With-The-Hubble-Telescope” Redskins.
The “Monday Night Massacre” Redskins. The “Thursday Night Termination” Redskins. The “Saturday Slaughter” Redskins. The “Sunday Shambles” Redskins.
The “Pick-Any-Day-Of-The-Week-And-We’ll-Be-Woeful” Redskins.
The “Say-Hello-To-Ghost-Town-Field-And-Your-Opponents-Fans” Redskins.
The “Aura Of Self Destruction” Redskins.
QUIZ: Can you match the nickname to the National Football League player?
The 0-3 Redskins.
Ladies and Gentlemen, your Washington Redskins.
I’d say Monday night’s 31-15 loss to the Chicago Bears at Ghost Town Field before a crowd half-filled with Bears fans was rock bottom, but it’s just another rock to put in the sea of rock bottom that this franchise has filled over the last 20 years that Dan Snyder has owned the team.
How could things get worse, you might think, day after day, year after year? And then this franchise shows you how much worse things could get.
This was a game that many fans and pundits alike – yours truly included – saw as a possible win. A chance for an 0-2 struggling Redskins team with a highly-touted defense to get right against a struggling 1-1 Bears offense (26 points in their first two games) and an inept Mitch Trubisky at quarterback. After all, he came into the game having completed 42 of 72 passes for 348 yards, no touchdowns and one interception in his first two games.
By halftime, when Trubisky had completed 20 of 23 passes for 173 yards and three touchdowns and staked his team to a 28-0 lead, those expectations seemed a little off.
Instead, it turned out to be another chapter in Redskins futility, this one their special “Monday Night Football” entry.
Going into the Monday night game, the Redskins’ record in these contests was the stuff of legends – 2-15 since 2008. Their last Monday night win came in 2014, when Colt McCoy, playing in place of an injured Robert Griffin III, led Washington to a 20-17 overtime upset victory over the favored Cowboys in Dallas.
But then you had the Chicago factor that offset Washington’s Monday night track record of disaster. The Redskins had beaten the Bears in their last seven meetings and had a 13-2 record against Chicago since 1989.
It was lining up as a Redskins chance to right the ship – with the right opponent.
Then they took the field.
Five minutes into the game, Redskins quarterback Case Keenum’s pass was picked off by former Washington safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix – Keenum’s first interception of the season – and returned 37 yards for a Bears touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
There would be more Keenum interceptions – including another by Clinton-Dix – three interceptions in all, along with two fumbles and four sacks. The Bears, led by linebacker Khalil Mack, showed Josh Norman, who had another dismal performance, and his great Redskins defense what defense truly was.
If defensive coordinator Greg Manusky – who the organization spent all winter trying to replace, to no avail – was on the hot seat before Monday night’s game, that seat has got to be white hot now after several weeks of his defenses looking lost while failing to stop offenses, both good and bad. Snyder made his way down from his personal box to downstairs at the 2:00 warning. It’s hard to imagine Manusky surviving that walk, but after the game Gruden insisted no changes were imminent.
In fact, he claimed he saw some progress defensively.
“I felt like there was some effort there, some physicality,” Gruden said.
He went on to say something like “there are still a couple of things in the red zone we’ve got to get cleaned up” and muttered something about getting in and out, who knows what.
Here is what is clear – there isn’t enough soap in a Dove factory to clean up what is wrong with this team.
• Hear Thom Loverro on 106.7 The Fan Wednesday afternoons and Saturday and Sunday mornings and on the Kevin Sheehan Show podcast.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.