The Curse of the Burgundy and Gold
November 4, 2021
by Steve Thomas
This is normally the week of the season that I write something along the lines of “Analysis of the first half of the Redskins’ Washington’s season”, which is typically a long and detailed looked at the stats so far, but really, what’s the point? It’s the same story as most years – the team stinks and is underperforming as compared to both last season and the lofty expectations of many fans. The offense suffers from inconsistency, injuries, weird playcalling, and lack of talent, and the defense bought into its own hype, makes mistakes, and can only play fairly well against mediocre offenses. I do think they’ll win a few games in the second half, simply because the schedule is easier. There. Analysis over. Instead, I thought I’d just rant for a little bit, so indulge me for a minute or two, if you don’t mind.
What I wanted to say here instead is that I’m sick and tired of disaster after disaster from this franchise. Just in the last month or so alone, we’ve seen a raid by the DEA, racist emails, and a botched Sean Taylor tribute. Sadly, none of those events are even the worst things that have happened to this franchise in the last couple of years. This kind of chaos is the norm, year in and year out. When is all of this going to end? At some point, will this fanbase ever be able to just root for a team to win and have a reasonable expectation that nothing crazy is going to happen? Are we ever going to be able to legitimately expect a regular contender? Considering what’s happened over the last 25 years or so, it’s a small miracle that the fanbase can fill up a Waffle House, let alone a huge stadium. It’s little wonder that Washington went from having the longest sellout streak in professional sports to the worst home attendance in the NFL.
I bring this up now because this is the first week in Ron Rivera’s tenure that Washington fans seem to have really soured on him. Why now? It’s not like we all shouldn’t have known how things were going to turn out. He’s now 9 – 15 with Washington, which is a .375 winning percentage. That puts him squarely in the middle of every other Washington coach since the mid 90s. Only Marty Schottenheimer had a non-losing record, and he only lasted one season and was 8 – 8. The point is, nothing’s changed. Most fans were ecstatic about Rivera’s arrival in DC, for good reason – the man is a natural leader and came in like a whirlwind in the 2020 offseason. Since then, what’s happened to Ron is The Curse of the Burgundy and Gold. He came into the franchise with a great reputation and a winning record as a head coach, but he’s succumbed to what’s happened to every head coach of this team – Shanahan, Gruden, Spurrier, even Joe Gibbs’ second stint. Every single one of those coaches saw either their record or reputation, or both ruined. This is just my subjective observation, but it doesn’t look like this coaching staff is all that motivated or interested in winning anymore. They seem tired and beaten down by the insane circumstances they’re faced.
No one should’ve expected anything different 18 months ago. We all knew what was almost certainly going to happen eventually, just maybe not this soon. What we’ve learned over these two decades or so is the front office structure doesn’t matter: coach-centric, general manager-centric, experienced coach, new coach, it always goes south, fast. People arrive at this franchise with quality reputations and excitement, and leave battered, beaten, and ruined. Some franchises just breed disaster. This is one of them, and it starts from the top. Just look at the franchises in major American sports that have been consistent winners for decades – many of them have eccentric personalities in leadership, but they seem to avoid serious controversy and keep the organization’s focus on winning. Washington can’t do that, ever.
This column could’ve become a detailed look at Daniel Snyder, but there’s no point. We all know the history, and it doesn’t matter. Nothing’s going to change with this franchise. He’s not going anywhere, and nothing about Tanya Snyder being the public face of ownership for awhile matters in the slightest. It’s most likely going to be one mind-numbing scandal after another, and more long periods of losing punctuated by an occasional moderately-successful season.
I haven’t even mentioned the name change controversy, which should never have happened in the first place, has taken an inordinate amount of time, and has reached absurd levels of hand-wringing. The result is going to be some new name that many of us won’t care about and won’t be as good as our beloved Redskins. Don’t be fooled into believing that the name-change is a turning point for the franchise – it is also wasn’t some sort of awakening of wokeness. It’s just a business decision ultimately forced by a ridiculous fight between the owner and his minority partners.
I could go on and on here, but I’ve said enough. At the end of the day, the only choice we all have as fans is to either keep rooting for the team we’ve all loved for decades, or leave. I’m not ready to jump ship just yet. God help me.