MMQB: Not such a sure thing

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By David Elfin

SAN FRANCISCO — SAN FRANCISCO

The sun was shining in San Francisco on Sunday. The Washington Redskins were coming off their best week in a long time, having upset the Philadelphia Eagles and then enjoying Christmas after an early practice.

After a rough start, the game turned Washington's way on a great play by cornerback DeAngelo Hall on third-and-1 from the Washington 29-yard line. Hall forced 49ers receiver Isaac Bruce out of bounds for a 1-yard loss. And when Joe Nedney's 48-yard field goal sailed wide right, the Redskins trailed just 3-0. By halftime, they led 17-7.

It looked like a ballgame, but the 49ers scored the next 17 points, forcing Jason Campbell to dive into the end zone to tie the score with 1:09 left. But then the defense couldn't make a critical stop, and the Redskins lost 27-24 on Joe Nedney's last-second field goal.

And with that, Washington's seemingly sure back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1996-97 had disappeared. Instead, Team Mediocre finished 8-8.

Q: Yuck. How ticked off should I be by this choke?

A: Not as much as by the loss two weeks ago at Cincinnati. With the losses by Tampa Bay, Chicago and Dallas on Sunday, Washington would have been a wild card if it had beaten the lowly Bengals and won Sunday (which it might have if it needed the victory) thanks to its sweep of the now playoff-bound Eagles.

Q: That's actually kinda depressing. We haven't been in the playoffs two years running since Coach Joe 1.0. And to come so close ...

A: The Redskins should be better in their second year under coach Jim Zorn, but they also have so many starters in their 30s - London Fletcher, Chris Samuels, Shawn Springs, Pete Kendall, Randy Thomas, Jon Jansen, Marcus Washington - so there's also reason to expect a drop-off as age and injuries really catch up with to them.

Q: The defense had a pretty good season. Can the Redskins figure out a way to keep together a unit that came in having allowed the fourth-fewest points and yards?