Just good enough to be bad

Over the course of time, you will see where my sports allegiances fall. I don't think you have to discount fandom to be able to comment on sports. Having said that, I will now admit that I am a fan of the Washington Redskins. I have experienced the thrill of victory (three Super Bowl titles in my lifetime) and the agony of defeat (commonly referred to by Skins fans as the Daniel Snyder era). Unfortunately, I'm still experiencing the Daniel Snyder era. This year's edition of the Redskins has become what I'm beginning to expect from the team, "just good enough to be bad." Perhaps that sounds funny to you. I can hear people now. Ken, the Skins are terrible. They've only won 3 games. Blah, blah, blah. Look, I hear ya. 3-9 is a terrible record. The sad thing is that if this team was even reasonably good, they'd be in first place in the NFC East. Now, some of you are thinking, "Whoa there big man. Ain't no team with .250 winning percentage close to being a first place team." In many ways that is true, but let us look at what has happened this year. The Skins got set up with a ridiculously easy schedule. They played a string of bottom feeder teams to start the season (exception the Giants). No team should lose to Detroit or Kansas City. Those were bad losses. The Skins left two wins on the field right there. Four times this season, the Skins have been in a position to win in the 4th quarter and weren't able to protect the lead. Carolina, Dallas, Philadelphia, and now New Orleans were all games where the Skins had the other team down with a chance to close them out. The Skins have been very imaginative in finding ways to lose these games. A reasonably good team would've closed out those wins. So, by my count, the Skins have easily lost 6 games that ,based on either the quality of the competition, or their play heading into crunch time, they should've won. Those 6 games alone would move the Skins from 3-9 to 9-3 on the season. The Skins could have been at 9-3 with a TWO GAME LEAD over the Cowboys and Eagles (those teams would be 7-5 if the Skins hadn't blown those games). That is why I say the Skins are just good enough to be bad. If the Skins were a good football team, they would've won all or at least most of those games. They would be in the hunt to win their division instead of being eliminated from the division race and only an improbably chance keeping them from being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs already. The entire organization is at fault. Thanks players. Thanks coaches. Thanks front office. Most of all, thanks Danny Snyder for ruining this franchise. Thanks to you all for being just good enough to be bad.