Skins need to get their head out of the turf

“Why, why, tell ’em that it’s human nature. Why, why do they do me that way?”

This is a quote from Michael Jackson’s song “Human Nature” and it’s appropriate at this juncture.

The Washington Redskins continued their free fall into mediocrity Sunday when they fell to the San Diego Chargers 23-17 at FedEx Field. This loss came as a shock to many fans considering the Redskins held a 10-7 lead at halftime only to lose once again in overtime.

Over the past few years, the Redskins can be described as ham-fisted. Right now their record stands at 5-6 and they’ve dug themselves in a hole the size of the Grand Canyon. Many people would say they’re still in the hunt for a wild card berth in the NFC, but if history is any indication I’ll have to resort to my Jim Mora alter ego and say “Playoffs? Are you kidding me? Playoffs?”

The Redskins sprinted to a 3-0 record to begin the season, but lately they’ve been winded only winning two out of their past eight games. On Sunday, the offense failed to produce in the fourth quarter for the third game in a row. I don’t have to remind fans of the torment the offense put our eyes through last year.

These past two games had to be especially rewarding for Oakland Raiders head coach Norv Turner and San Diego Chargers head coach Marty Schottenheimer, who came into FedEx Field and gave the Redskins big losses.

Turner coached the Redskins from 1994-2000. During that time he compiled a 49-59-1 record. After the 13th game of the 2000 season, Turner was terminated by new owner Daniel Synder.

Schottenheimer coached the Redskins during the 2001 season and led them to an 8-8 record. By the way, that’s the last time they were close to being above .500. Most Redskins fans would now look back and see that Schottenheimer and Turner weren’t bad alternatives compared to the misery of the past few seasons.

Where do we go from here?

Every season, the Redskins seem to get our hopes up, but by Thanksgiving we’re talking about what they should have done, what they could have done and who’s to blame for their futility. I can only imagine what Dan Synder was thinking after the last two heartbreaking losses to the former coaches, whom he dismissed like they were on Donald Trump’s show, “The Apprentice.”

I can remember being a 5-year-old child sitting in my living room watching the Redskins on Monday Night Football. I vividly recall the night Joe Theismann’s leg was devoured by New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor, and as a result the hit ended Theismann’s career. Since then the Redskins haven’t had stability at the quarterback position.

One of Joe Gibbs’ staples during his first tenure from 1981-1992 was winning with an assortment of quarterbacks. He won three Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks. He’s in the Hall of Fame for his accomplishments. In 2004, he returned for his second tour of duty with the Redskins. Everyone in the D.C. area was saying “Happy days are here again,” but last year was no rerun of “Happy Days.”

This year looked promising, but as usual fans are now saying “Here we go again.” Do these new Redskins know what they do on Sundays affects the way we feel throughout the week? We live and die burgundy and gold. But in an era where selfishness, endorsements and astronomical salaries dominate, players could care less. Maybe, if we stopped investing our time, money and emotions into the Redskins they would play better and start to give a damn.

I’m tired of watching post-game conferences of Gibbs saying the team played their guts out and left everything on the field. Memo to coach Gibbs: enough is enough. Someone needs to tell these guys like it is. Redskins fans are tired of saying “Well, there’s always next year.” We want to see our team playing in January when it matters. Is that too much to ask?

The future looks bleak considering the Redskins will have serious salary cap issues to deal with in the off-season and no high-round draft picks next year. It’s time for the entire organization to man up and get this ship going back in the right direction before all is lost.

There are five games remaining. It will take 10 wins to get into the playoffs. The time has come to put up or shut up. No more excuses.

When you make your bed, you have to lie in it.

That’s human nature.