Grant Halverson/Getty ImagesIt is time to face the fact that the Washington Redskins are, once again, not as good as advertised.New GM, new coach, new offense, new defense, new quarterback—same stale, ineffective offense and streaky defense.After losing to the Minnesota Vikings, the Redskins are third in the division and have a slew of teams ahead of them in the ever-changing playoff picture.The Redskins are not going to the playoffs this year, plain and simple.Any team at 5-6 would be crazy to consider themselves playoff contenders. The only 5-6 teams with any chance at the playoffs right now are the Rams and Seahawks by virtue of being atop a terrible NFC West.Redskins Insider Jason Reid highlights the similarity between this season and the 2007 season where Washington overcame a 5-7 record to finish 9-7 and sneak into the playoffs as a Wild Card.The Redskins are on track to match that 5-7 record as they face the Giants next week, but they lack the proper avenue to recreate the results of Saints jersey
that season.Washington cannot bank on a tragedy to compel them into action like Sean Taylor's death did in 2007.Losing Taylor was indeed tragic, but it fueled an emotional run to the playoffs for the Redskins that made headlines.Matthew Stockman/Getty ImagesTaylor's Miami brethren were noticeably moved each and every week they stepped on the field. Santana Moss and Clinton Portis played great in the final three games, producing a combined 632 yards and six touchdowns with their respective tributes put on full display.But that was an improbable run to finish the season, one that only the Chargers seem capable of doing year in and year out.The final four games of 2007 offered the perfect storm of opponents for Washington.The Bears were fighting the Super Bowl hangover/curse and finished 7-9.The Vikings were overachieving on all sides of the ball and finished 8-8.The Cowboys phoned in the game en route to a first-round bye and home field advantage in the playoffs.The Giants were beaten thoroughly, and ultimately won the Super Bowl that year, but didn't look like champs in the game against Washington.The only way the Redskins can hope to capture lightning again is to have Donovan McNabb knocked out for an injury against Tampa Bay, and have Rex Grossman draw on his "experience" in Kyle Shanahan's offense to outplay the final four opponents.What about this team says anything better than .500?Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesThe only real similarities between this season and 2007 is the outdated head coach and a midseason shellacking at the hands of a playoff contender.There is no magic to this season.There was no real emotion to any of their wins or losses.If it takes losing a player to get the team in gear, I'll take the losing record.A team so laden with veterans should not make the mistakes the Redskins are making.The mere presence of experience doesn't equate to success, and the Redskins are learning that lesson the hard way.The 2007 season Bills jersey
featured 11 rushing touchdowns from Portis, as well as a top 10 defense, coupled with the unexpected performance of Todd Collins.This year's defense is allowing the most yards in the NFL, the offense is the worst in the NFL in third down conversion percentage and there is no sense of urgency in the locker room or on the field.Washington is playing like a defeated team at the first sign of adversity in their games.Reid closed his piece with the perfect quote to sum up the comparison between 2007 and this season."It's a different team and a different time, so you can't just hang your hat on that," he said. "It's a totally different situation."How will the Redskins finish the final five games?How will the Redskins finish the final five games?5-020.0%4-19.0%3-227.0%2-3 or worse44.0%Total votes: 100Fletcher was part of that 2007 Redskins team and has been around long enough to know that it doesn't matter what you've done in the past but what you're doing now that matters.Three Super Bowls in another decade mean nothing to a team that has one playoff win in 10 years.Two Super Bowl wins for Mike Shanahan mean nothing when he was fired from his last NFL head coaching job.The Redskins have too much going against them this season to make it into the playoffs.They have wins over Chicago and Green Bay, but lost to Detroit and Minnesota.The Bears are 8-3 atop the NFC North having gone 4-0 since losing to Washington, and the Packers are 7-4 having gone 4-2 since losing to Washington.The Redskins are 1-3 since beating Chicago and 2-4 since beating Green Bay.Detroit and Minnesota, as well as St. Louis and Houston, have losing records on the season.Ahead of Washington in the playoff race are the 9-2 Falcons, 8-3 Saints, 7-4 Buccaneers, 7-4 Giants and 7-4 Eagles.The NFC South is likely to send three playoff representatives while the NFC West and the once highly touted NFC East may just send their division champions.Even the NFC East is seemingly out of reach at this point in the season.After being dismantled by the Eagles, the Redskins dropped to 2-1 in the division with two meetings with New York and one with Dallas remaining.The Giants have shown the ability to dominate in some weeks and stumble in others.They are 2-2 since the bye, having blown out Seattle, but losing to division rivals Dallas and Philadelphia.The Cowboys are 3-8 but playing better offensively with Jason Garrett serving has head coach since Wade Phillips was fired.Washington will need to sweep the Giants, beat Dallas a second time, beat Tampa Bay, while hoping the Eagles, Packers and Saints fall apart over the rest of the season.Too much has to go right for the Redskins, who have proven capable of doing everything wrong in even the seemingly easiest of games.This season has been nothing if not surprising.None of the teams that won their division last season are currently leading their division this season.Two teams Bears jersey
went undefeated into December of last season, but every team has lost at least two games before December has started this season.The Colts are on pace to win less than 12 games for the first time since 2002, which says a lot about this season compared to seasons past.As surprising as this season has been, the Redskins are not going to surprise anyone with a late season push to the playoffs. They don't have any momentum and have too many obstacles to overcome in the next five games.There's always next year, though, which is the standard attitude for many of the Redskins faithfuls around this time of year.
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