Redskins vs. Championship Teams over the last 10 Years

[HolyLandSkinsFan]

It's interesting to note that while the Redskins have rarely made it to the post season over the last 10 years, they have more often than not (7 out of 10) beat teams that have made it all the way to the championship game.

What do you think this means - since the trend remains through different players, coaches and systems.

Is the major problem a culture of playing up and down to the talent level of the opponent?

2010

Beat Chicago and Green bay, both in NFC championship

2009

Almost beat NO - lost in overtime 33 - 30 who won Superbowl

2008

Beat PHI twice and ARI - both in NFC championship

2007

Split with Giants - who won Superbowl close in first game and beat them in second

2006

Beat NO who was in NFC championship

2005

Beat Seatle who won NFC championship

2004

Lost to PHI

2003

Beat NE who won Superbowl

Lost to NFC Championship teams:
Lost to PHI
Lost to CAR by 3 points with 3 minutes left

2002

Beat TENN who lost in AFC championship
Lost twice to PHI

2001

Split with PHI who lost in NFC championship

2000

Beat Baltimore who won the Superbowl
Split with the Giants who lost

[MTK]

More than anything I think it speaks to the parity of the NFL. I'd like to see how other similar teams stack up before trying to draw any meaning from this.

[rbanerjee23]

That would be great if we weren't consistently the team that lost to the best teams in the NFL (i.e. losing to Detroit twice)

[mooby]

I think all this means is that teams that go far into the playoffs aren't necessarily the teams that play the best football from week to week in the NFL. Also gives more meaning to the term "any given sunday." Many thought New England was the best team in the NFL this season, and they got dispatched in their first playoff game. It is easy to read into this too much and think that it might point to a sign that we aren't that far behind the truly elite teams in the NFL, but in reality all it means is that on one particular Sunday, we were better than a team that made it deep into the playoffs. The teams that reach the CC games and the SB are the teams that peak at the right time, which is during the playoffs.

[skinsguy]

I think it means that the Championship caliber teams know how to pace themselves during the season in order to finish strong where as the weaker teams tend to get beat up toward the end of the season.

[freddyg12]

Good timing on this thread, just last week L. Michael said that because the skins beat both GB & chicago that it was a sign of progress. Dan Steinberg made fun of this in his DC Spots bog & with good reason; Steinberg pointed out that Zorn's 08 team was 3-0 v. Nfc champ. teams.

When I look at the list, what stands out to me is how the Skins have been able to put together portions or snapshots of a good season, only to regress in the end. Other than Joe Gibbs getting his teams to put together dramatic playoff runs in 05 & 07, the decade has been defined by big hopes that were reinforced by some of these wins, only to lead to major disappoint.

The best example is the 03 win over NE when Champ forced a fumble to seal the deal. The ole ball coach was 3-1 at that point in his 2nd season. We finished 4-12 I believe & were totally embarrased by the pokes 27-0. The OBC left town never looking more humble in his coaching career.

[44ever]

And then again we are the team responsible for breaking the Lions 19 game losing streak. So we Redskins can do it all!

[SirClintonPortis]

This argues that Steve Spurrier was a very capable NFL head coach.

[hooskins]

A team that plays up and down to opposition is a sign of a talented but bad team. Starts with the organization and coaching and the culture created by them.

[freddyg12]

Originally Posted by hooskins

A team that plays up and down to opposition is a sign of a talented but bad team. Starts with the organization and coaching and the culture created by them.

I think the playing down to the competition has always been exaggerated by us, as we've overvalued the team's talent. In reality this team has for a no. of years been poor to mediocre, e.g. losing to the Rams 2 years in a row wasn't 'playing down', we just aren't any better than them.

I think more than anything this list shows that this decade of Skins' teams were not deep & not complete, but could put together a couple of wins every year that led us to believe otherwise, if only for a little while.

[firstdown]

I like how you included the almost won games

[redsk1]

This means absolutely nothing. We've been an up and down team for the last 15 years. Sometimes we look good, more often than not we don't. I'd like to get our record against bad teams for the last decade.

[Longtimefan]

It’s Final Four weekend in pro football, and for the 19th straight season the Redskins aren’t one of the Four. Once upon a time, they were at the center of the NFL solar system, but now they’re like more Pluto, the Planet That’s No Longer a Planet.

Sad but true: You’d have to be at least 25 years old to have much memory of the last Redskins team to play in the NFC championship game (Joe Gibbs’ 1991 juggernaut, which won it all). An entire generation of fans has grown up thinking a 10-6 record – and occasional wild-card berth – is the absolute limit of the club’s capabilities.

That should scare the bejabbers out of Dan Snyder. I mean, if the franchise keeps scuffing along like this, keeps changing coaches and quarterbacks and the way most people change radio stations, who in the future is going to buy Redskins belt buckles?

Hard as it is to believe, the Redskins have been lousy almost as long as they were from 1946 to 1970 (the years between Sammy Baugh’s last title game and George Allen’s first playoff team). To go 19 seasons without making the Final Four nowadays – in this glorious Era of Parity – defies probability. Consider:

• Only two NFC clubs HAVEN’T reached the conference championship game in the last 19 years – the Lions being the other. These are the depths to which the Redskins have plunged. (And Detroit, of course, has beaten them the last two seasons.)

• 12 of the NFC’s 16 teams have gotten to the conference title game AT LEAST TWICE since ’92. (Indeed, 23 of the 32 teams in the league have been to the conference title game at least twice.)

• The Panthers, who started from Square 1 in 1995 as an expansion club, have been to the NFC championship game THREE times.

Here’s how the title game berths (1992-2010) break down by conference:

NFC: Eagles 5, Packers 5, Cowboys 4, 49ers 4, Panthers 3, Vikings 3, Bears 2, Bucs 2, Falcons 2, Giants 2, Rams 2, Saints 2, Cardinals 1, Seahawks 1, Lions 0, Redskins 0.

AFC: Steelers 8, Patriots 6, Colts 4, Broncos 3, Jets 3, Bills 2, Chargers 2, Jaguars 2, Raiders 2, Ravens 2, Titans 2, Chiefs 1, Dolphins 1, Bengals 0, Browns 0, Texans 0.

(And let’s not forget, the Texans didn’t join the league until 2002, and the Browns didn’t rejoin it until 1999.)

In Washington, in other words, Final Four weekend has become Somebody Else’s Party. And what makes it particularly galling for Redskins fans is that Somebody Else has often been the Steelers, Eagles and/or Ravens – the three franchises closest to D.C. (15 conference championship games among them since ’95).

So if you’re feeling a sense of emptiness the next few days – of deprivation even – it’s perfectly understandable. It’s been a lengthy dry spell for the Redskins, lengthy enough to test the resolve of the most loyal rooter. It’s also been more than a bit disorienting. For decades, after all, teams like the Saints and Cardinals existed, basically, to be beaten . . . and now they’re going to the Super Bowl.

On Sunday afternoon, the Bears and Packers, eternal blood enemies, did battle at Soldier Field in the NFC title game. In the evening, the Steelers and Jets battled for AFC honors. And the Redskins once again will be sitting in the Peanut Gallery – and wondering when the nightmare is going to end. So it has been for 19 seasons, as long as many of their young fans can remember.

[skinsguy]

That's a hard reality, Longtimefan! But yet, it's fact! And since that last time the Redskins have made it to championship weekend, they have only had four playoff appearances. It's no wonder the younger fan has a short leash on coaches/players/team itself.... they don't know what it truly means to root for an elite/great team like the Redskins were in the 80's. They can't fathom the thought of looking forward to football on Sunday with the confidence knowing that more times than not, the Redskins are going to win.

And even for long time fans like us....we have tasted that, but have forgotten that feeling! Just for a short while, I had that feeling again when Joe Gibbs had came back. Even though he wasn't very successful in his second tenure, I had that faith in the team again. It's going to take Shanahan consecutive winning, playoff seasons for me to have that confidence in another Redskins coach.

[44ever]

Originally Posted by skinsguy

That's a hard reality, Longtimefan! But yet, it's fact! And since that last time the Redskins have made it to championship weekend, they have only had four playoff appearances. It's no wonder the younger fan has a short leash on coaches/players/team itself.... they don't know what it truly means to root for an elite/great team like the Redskins were in the 80's. They can't fathom the thought of looking forward to football on Sunday with the confidence knowing that more times than not, the Redskins are going to win.

And even for long time fans like us....we have tasted that, but have forgotten that feeling! Just for a short while, I had that feeling again when Joe Gibbs had came back. Even though he wasn't very successful in his second tenure, I had that faith in the team again. It's going to take Shanahan consecutive winning, playoff seasons for me to have that confidence in another Redskins coach.

Mind Reader...