From Bad to Worse, Step by Step

The Washington Redskins are 0-3. The Buffalo Bills are 0-3. This is no way to mark the 10th anniversary of a season that sent both teams to Super Bowl XXVI--the Redskins finished 14-2 in 1991, the Bills were 13-3--but that’s Rob Johnson and Marty Schottenheimer for you.

A decade of decay later, the Redskins and the Bills could be the two worst teams in professional football, give or take Quincy Carter. How did this happen? Who’s to blame?

A couple of 12-step programs not to follow:

BUFFALO BILLS

1. January 1992: Bills lose their second consecutive Super Bowl, this one to the Redskins, 37-24. The first was by a point, to the Giants, after a late missed field goal. Nation shrugs--could have been just a fluke. In the second, Jim Kelly throws four interceptions and Thurman Thomas loses his helmet, forcing him to miss the first few plays of the game. Nation begins to suspect a trend.

2. Bills lose their third consecutive Super Bowl, 52-17, to a Dallas Cowboy team making its first Super Bowl appearance since the 1970s. Disconsolate fans in Buffalo belly up to the bar, take solace in their belief that things cannot get any worse.

3. Backup quarterback Frank Reich rallies Bills from a 32-point deficit to defeat the Houston Oilers in a 1993 wild-card game, setting a dangerous precedent: From this point forward, regardless of how dark the hour or how many failed chances Rob Johnson staggers through, deluded Bill fans believe anything is possible.

4. Bills lose their fourth consecutive Super Bowl, 30-13, to Dallas again. Two-year record against the Cowboys: a 35-point loss followed by a 17-point defeat. Buffalo management considers this a marked improvement, decides to stay the course.

5. After a 9-3 start to the 1996 season dissolves into four final defeats, Kelly announces his retirement at 36. Subsequent events suggest Kelly quit too soon, although he did spend 11 years in Buffalo. That’s 77 in Los Angeles years.

6. After one season of Todd Collins and Alex Van Pelt, Bills know they have to do something at quarterback but can’t decide what. In January 1998, they sign six-time Canadian Football League most valuable player Doug Flutie. In February 1998, they trade two draft picks to Jacksonville for Johnson.

7. About the same time, Marv Levy retires and defensive coordinator Wade Phillips is promoted as his replacement. Phillips never decides what to do about the quarterback situation either.

8. Flutie-Johnson controversy divides the town throughout 1998 and 1999 seasons, but Bills keep winning. Flutie makes the Pro Bowl in ‘98, goes 10-5 in 15 starts in ‘99, then is benched by Phillips on the eve of Buffalo’s wild-card game against Tennessee.

9. Johnson completes only 10 of 22 passes for 131 yards against Tennessee, but Bills lead, 16-15, with 16 seconds to play. Titans score on the ensuing kickoff on a controversial “lateral” from Frank Wycheck to Kevin Dyson. Post-defeat spin in Buffalo: We was robbed, Rob was robbed, we can win with Rob.

10. Between the 1999 and 2000 seasons, Bills cast away the last vestiges of their 1990s success by cutting Thomas, Andre Reed and Bruce Smith, along with 13 other veterans, in a payroll-slashing purge. Smith signs with the Redskins, thinking, “Finally, my chance to get a ring.”

11. Flutie-Johnson reaches point of no return in 2000 as “an unnamed teammate” (presumed to be old, short and big in Canada) rips Johnson in a national magazine article; owner Ralph Wilson lobbies hard for Johnson; Phillips spends the whole season waffling and so do the Bills, finishing out of the playoffs at 8-8. Phillips is fired at season’s end.

12. Overreacting to his team’s third non-playoff year since 1987, Wilson makes the following choices for 2001: Coach: Tennessee defensive coordinator Gregg Williams over Baltimore’s Marvin Lewis. General manager: Tom Donahoe over John Butler. Quarterback: Johnson over Flutie. Scoreboard: 0-3.

WASHINGTON REDSKINS

1. January 1992: Redskins defeat Bills in the Super Bowl, 37-24, as quarterback Mark Rypien passes for 292 yards and two touchdowns. Redskins talk dynasty--and as long as Rypien keeps throwing and Joe Gibbs keeps coaching and the Bills keep reaching the Super Bowl, why not?

2. In classic Super-Bowl-MVP style, Rypien holds out during the summer of ‘92, finishes the season as the NFC’s lowest-rated passer. Redskins go 9-7, end up third in the NFC East, and lose to San Francisco in the divisional playoffs. Two months later, Gibbs retires.

3. There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that “Schottenheimer” is German for Richie Petitbon, who replaces Gibbs in 1993 and leads the Redskins to their worst season in three decades--4-12 and last place in the East.

4. Two moves in early 1994 convince the Beltway that prosperity is just around the corner: Norv Turner is hired as coach, and Tennessee quarterback Heath Shuler is drafted.

5. Turner and Shuler debut at 3-13.

6. Shuler is gone by the start of the 1996 season, replaced by former seventh-round draft pick Gus Frerotte of Tulsa, the same school that gave us T.J. Rubley. Redskins win seven of their first eight games, then close 2-6 and miss the playoffs.

7. Redskin owner Jack Kent Cooke dies in early 1997. Irascible to the end, he leaves a will that makes it virtually impossible for his son John to maintain control of the team. Instead, on May 25, 1999 (cue forbidding, ominous music), the Redskins are purchased for $800 million by Daniel Snyder.

8. Redskins go through three quarterbacks in six months: Frerotte loses the job in 1998 to Trent Green, who treats his 3,441 yards passing as frequent-flyer points, cashing them in for a one-way ticket to St. Louis. The day before Green signs with the Rams, Redskins trade two draft picks to Minnesota for Brad Johnson. One of those picks lands Daunte Culpepper.

9. Two months after Snyder takes over, General Manager Charley Casserly, displaying the instincts that made him one of the most respected executives in the game, resigns.

10. Johnson passes for 4,005 yards and the ’99 Redskins go 11-5. Not satisfied, Snyder spends $18.25 million to bring in Jeff George.

11. On a roll, Snyder can’t help himself, buys Bruce Smith, buys Mark Carrier, buys Deion Sanders, doesn’t bother to check the sell-by date. Certain of a return to Redskin Super Bowl glory, Snyder can’t understand why his molding oldies are 7-6 in early December, so he fires Turner and orders the replacement to start George. Redskins have yet to win again.

12. Marty Schottenheimer, smart television analyst, says he could never work for an owner as meddlesome as Snyder. Marty Schottenheimer, brain-locked retired football coach, can’t say no when Snyder waves $10 million in front of him. Promising to turn the program around, Schottenheimer cuts 12 starters. Redskins lose their first three games of 2001 by a cumulative 112-16. Tony Banks is the new quarterback. On the plus side, Michael Jordan is back.