Half of an offense is better than none at all

CHICAGO.

Let’s pretend the Redskins’ season began yesterday, with a closer-than-it-should-have-been 13-10 beating of the Bears at Soldier Field. Let’s forget about the 1-4 start, the injury to Jon Jansen in training camp and all that other awful stuff.

How do you feel about your team right now, right at this very moment? Are you exhilarated? Relieved? Encouraged? Hopeful? Or is your state of mind about the same as it was after the 16-10 victory over Tampa Bay in the opener?

It’s a reasonable question, inasmuch as we’re more than a third of the way through the schedule now. How far have the Redskins really come between Then (Week 1) and Now (Week 6)? Are they on their way to being another Gibbsian machine, or are they still stuck in second gear?

They’re certainly in a better place psychologically heading into bye week. As Fred Smoot put it, “My body feels bad — I’ve got a stinger in one shoulder and a slight separation in the other — but my soul feels real good.” But the Redskins are still playing pretty much the same brand of football they were in September: heavy on defense, devoid of a passing game and prone to touchdown-producing turnovers.

Once again yesterday, Gregg Williams’ unit did the bulk of the heavy lifting. Of course, they were aided and abetted by yet another opponent with an NFL Europe-caliber quarterback, this time Jonathan Quinn. The Redskins held Quinn to a grand total of 1.3 yards per pass (approximately four feet) and limited the Chicago offense to 160 overall.

So dominant was the Washington defense that Joe Gibbs “was bound and determined,” he said, “to put it in their hands” in the final minutes. So he called a few safe plays, punted with 1:40 to go, and watched Cornelius Griffin rack up two sacks and Sean Taylor pick off a pass to sew up the win.

The most remarkable thing about the Redskins’ ’D’ is that they lost LaVar Arrington to a knee injury four games ago — and have yet to have the services of Mike Barrow — and still have been shutting teams down. Who knew they had such quality linebacking depth in Antonio Pierce and Lemar Marshall?

But not every club they face is going to be as quarterback challenged as the Bears and Ravens. Next up for Washington, I’ll just remind you, is Brett Favre, followed by Donovan McNabb (twice), rookie phenom Ben Roethlisberger, comeback kid Kurt Warner and Daunte Culpepper. The Redskins won’t stand much of a chance in those games if Brunell and Co. don’t start putting up some points.

Yesterday they managed a touchdown and two field goals — despite a rushing attack that gained 218 yards (171 by Clinton Portis) and enabled the offense to hold the ball for 34 minutes. Usually when you’re having that much success on the ground, it eventually opens up the pass. But that never happened against the Bears. Brunell, the three-time Pro Bowler, was barely more effective than Quinn (who was slotted for backup duty until Rex Grossman went down). For the second straight game, Brunell failed to throw for 100 yards (93) and did little to dispel the notion that his best days are behind him.

It’s the throwaways that really stick out. Brunell might lead the league in throwaways. “When nothing’s there, sometimes the smartest thing to do is get rid of it,” he explains. “It’s frustrating, but our defense is playing good [and you don’t want to do something that would jeopardize the team’s chances of winning].”

But even Gibbs, his staunchest defender, admitted that the Redskins need to start “getting the ball downfield,” need to “find a way offensively,” need to “make some plays.” After an 18-yard TD pass to Rod Gardner on the first play of the second quarter, “the passing game kinda went cold,” Coach Joe said.

Actually, the passing game has been kinda cold all season. Gibbs still seems to be figuring out, after being away from the game for 11 years, how to attack the defense vertically without leaving his quarterback vulnerable to blitzes. One way to do it, traditionally, is with a solid running game and well-timed play-action passes. Yesterday, though, was the first time Portis ran for consistent yardage for four quarters. Eleven times, by my count, he gained four or more yards on first down (and four times he gained 13 or more). Riggo couldn’t have done it much better.

That’s the silver lining in an otherwise uninspiring victory over a bad team: The Redskins offense began to resemble the Gibbs offenses of old — or rather, half of the offense did. The other half, the throwing half, we’re still waiting on.

Chris Samuels was willing to settle for half a loaf. “We’re just happy to win,” he said. “We don’t care that it wasn’t all that pretty. We just went through a tough time.”

The Redskins are hoping the tough times are over — and maybe they are. We’ll know a little bit better in two weeks, when the Packers come to town.