Commentary : Losing Certainly Doesn’t Mean All Is Lost for Redskins

As disasters go, this Redskins season has been rather gentle. For Christmas, let’s give the Redskins rose-colored glasses. For once, it’s not delusion to look at the bright side of a dark year.

First, in a season defined by injuries, nobody got badly, career-ending hurt, and that’s important. Sure, players around whom the future revolves had plenty of pain. In fact, the offensive line and defensive backfield were in chaos all year. That’s why neither unit achieved an identity. When you can’t establish the run or stop the bomb, you’re not a contender. Then, when you strip special teams to patch your lineup, you create tension.

Still, by NFL standards, the Redskins’ hurts were infuriating but meaningless in the long term. Darrell Green and Kelvin Bryant both dodged bullets. What if the team’s swiftest backs on defense and offense had suffered lasting knee injuries?

While the Redskins lost nobody major, they added important prime talent. Chip Lohmiller and Wilber Marshall became fixtures. Jim Lachey was acquired for nothing. Nothing? Yes, because Bobby Beathard’s trade gamble worked when Mark Rypien proved to be as good as, or better than, Jay Schroeder. Some season, all three might be all-pros.

If failure forges unity, then the Redskins should be galvanized by next training camp. Coach Joe Gibbs isn’t poor-mouthing when he says the Redskins can’t beat anybody without a total team effort. Last Sunday’s defeat in RFK Stadium proved it. Dallas -- 3-12 and outscored by 100 points -- is nobody.

Last season, Washington was a cohesive, careful, clutch, come-from-behind team. Worst loss: four points. They weren’t always good, but they never stunk. Why? They knew their identity and their limits. Hang tough, stay close and win late. And no mistakes. Eleven of 15 non-strike games were decided by seven points or less.

That’s why the Super Bowl score (42-10) was such a nasty trick. Washington became the seventh straight team to win a Super Bowl in the 1980s by more than 10 points, then fail to get as far as its conference championship game the next year. Win big in the ultimate game, then live to regret it. Human nature?

Even their embarrassing 24-17 Dallas defeat may be a Redskins break. There will be no late-season charge with too many sins forgiven. Now, the Redskins must face the bad news. And it’s significant. Yes, wait ‘til next year is their best advice. But it’s not the only advice. While the Redskins got many positive answers about young people like Dean Hamel, Marcus Koch and Ricky Sanders, it seemed that bad karma coagulated at one crucial spot-running back.

Timmy Smith may hold the Super Bowl rushing record forever, but his average gain in 155 carries this year was more eloquent: 3.0. Smith thinks his problem is fumbling or attitude. Not so. Even compared to tiny Jamie Morris, Smith just didn’t run tough or smart. And it’s also clear now that Bryant’s reputation as fragile is merited. It’s doubtful Gibbs will build an offense around him again.

Even Gibbs is inclined to reevaluate his ultra-simple power ground game. He’s designed a rhinoceros attack, but has tabbycat backs. How can it work? On short yardage, the tiptoeing Redskins are pathetic. A trade here is Beathard’s No. 1 off-season job.

The coaching staff’s task is to come up with some new running plays. Joe, folks are snickering. Simplicity is a virtue, but this? It only took the NFL’s masterminds eight years to dope out Counter Trey.

Last, we come to the Redskins’ most perplexing dilemma -- both this week and next season. The team’s strongest position also may be its most worrisome: quarterback. Should Gibbs go with his head, which says Mark Rypien, or with his heart, which says Doug Williams?

Logic cries for Rypien. Williams is a completed product; but Rypien, who’s just as good (statistically) right now, might get better with more seasoning and less interceptions. Maybe even much better; 18 touchdown passes in less than half a season is stunning. Also, Rypien played far better when he started four straight weeks; does he get rusty or rattled when sharing time? Isn’t Rypien’s confidence worth nurturing?

Finally, Williams seems uniquely adapted to crisis. Doug To The Rescue. Just as some batters hit .250 with no one on base, but .300 with men on, Williams thrives on late-game pressure and post-season play. Does “A Touch of Class” actually get better, or does stress just bother everybody else more.

When Williams starts a ho-hum game, like Sunday’s, doesn’t he sometimes forget his helmet? But when he enters, battered and behind with two minutes left, isn’t he almost always splendid?

“I’m not one of those careful players,” Williams said this week. “(Grambling) Coach (Eddie) Robinson always said, ‘The last one to draw is the first one to die.’ ”

Pure football reason might say the Redskins should play Rypien, reach a final decision on him and preserve Williams body. At worst, with proper care and feeding, couldn’t Williams be a prize relief pitcher -- backup isn’t a good enough term for this one-man cavalry charge -- for many more seasons?

Football, however, is a game of emotion more than reason. Leadership matters and Williams has it. The Redskins, in the dumps of 7-8, need all they can get. The feeling here, against logic, is that Williams should start on Sunday, then go to camp as a solid, but not entrenched, No. 1 quarterback. The Redskins need to finish this season, and start anew, with fire and fortitude-qualities they’ve lacked at times this year. That’s spelled W-i-l-l-i-a-m-s.

Perhaps the best long-term news of this entire season, not just for the Redskins but for any sports fan, is the almost unparalleled grace with which Williams and Rypien have handled their ever-changing roles. Williams has been the master with veteran pride while Rypien has, out of respect, reined in his ambition. Thanks to them, Gibbs probably can’t make a bad decision for 1989. After this dreary campaign is forgotten, the memory of Doug and Mark, not Billy or Sonny, is worth remembering.