Redskins vs. Chiefs. Odd stat: 1 in 32,768...

[T-post Tom]

That's the odds of the Redskins playing their first six games against winless teams. A stat worthy of the CP greatness that we call "Rainman". Unfortunately, the Chiefs once again find the ugly side of Rainman's world.


Most Amazing Stat of the Day
Posted: October 12th, 2009
~Joe Posnanski

Thanks to a couple of Brilliant Readers for this one …

The Washington Snyders this week will be playing a winless team for the SIXTH CONSECUTIVE WEEK.

That is one of the most amazing things I have ever heard in sports. And it’s absolutely legit too.

Week 1: You always play a winless team in the opening week, of course. That’s why seasons start with hope. Washington loses to Giants 23-17. Giants have twice as much total yardage, but Washington mostly keeps the Giants out the end zone (New York settles for three Lawrence Tynes field goals) and scores last to make the score look respectable. The Giants are the only team on the Redskins schedule (so far) with a non-Washington victory.

Week 2: Washington beats astonishingly bad (and still winless) St. Louis Rams 9-7. Believe it or not — and here’s ANOTHER amazing statistic for you — the seven points the Rams scored in that game is more than their season average. They have scored 34 points in five games, an average of 6.8. If they keep it up (and I’m assured by people who watch the Rams regularly that they COULD keep it up) the Rams would become the lowest scoring NFL team since the merger.

It’s amazing to think that it has been less than a decade since the Rams were the “Greatest Show On Turf.” What are they now? “The Most Godforsaken Players on Turf?”

Week 3: Washington loses to the winless Lions 19-14. The Lions, of course, were not just winless this year, but they did not win a game last year either. The Lions had to beat SOMEBODY, and Washington seemed like the right team.

Week 4: Washington beats winless Tampa Bay 16-14. It’s a strange thing … Tampa Bay has been mostly good for about a dozen years. They have had eight winning records in those 12 seasons, made the playoffs seven times, won one Super Bowl and lost in one of the more compelling NFC Championship games. In other words, it has been a long time since the Bucs have been a joke. And yet … they move so naturally and easily back into jokedom that it hardly seems like Leeman Bennett has ever been gone.

Week 5: Washington blows a 15-point lead in the second half and loses to the winless Carolina Panthers. Carolina QB Jake Delhomme throws an interception for the fourth consecutive game — he now has eight picks in four games this season. He did not throw one in the bye week … though I’m certain he threw several near-picks. I’m not entirely how you lose a 15-point lead to a Jake Delhomme team — a muffed punt certainly helps.

Week 6: Washington plays the winless Kansas City Chiefs this week, a Chiefs team that has lost 28 of their last 30 games. I wish there was a streak report on Football Reference like there is on Baseball Reference … I cannot imagine many teams in NFL history have lost 28 of 30 games.*

In fact, think about this: We know no NFL team has lost 30 games in a row. So the worst a team has been over 30 games is 1-29. That’s just not much worse than 2-28, is it?

*It occurred to me watching the Chiefs lose to the Cowboys in overtime on Sunday one reason why it’s SO HARD to go winless for a whole season or lose 28 of 30. The reason: Other teams stink too. That’s something we always used to talk about in the press boxes before NFL games. It is tempting to believe when you are covering a bad team — and I’ve had the grand fortune of covering these Chiefs and the mid-90s Bengals — that no other team could possibly be as bad. It is pretty much a weekly event before most NFL games: NFL beat writers arguing about which of their teams is worse.

Beat writer 1: BELIEVE ME, I’m telling you, the team I cover stinks.
Beat writer 2: You don’t know what stink means.
Beat writer 1: Really? Your team is going to win today by about 40 points.
Beat writer 2: The team I cover couldn’t score 40 points if the defense stayed at home.

And the truth is: There is a whole lot of mediocrity in the NFL. Yes, this is the famous “parity” that the NFL has turned into a multi-billion dollar industry. This is the famous “there’s a thin line between success and failure” line that NFL coaches parrot all through the year. This sort of equality inspires the famous, “On any given Sunday,” and “That’s why they play the game,” and “Throw out the record books” quotes. And all the cliches ring of some truth.

But if you want to put it more bluntly, you could also call it the league of mostly sucky teams. The Cowboys, of course, are better than the Chiefs. But they are not good at all. And teams that are not good at all can fumble punts, can commit stupid penalties on third-down-and-204, can drop sure touchdown passes and game-ending interceptions, can overthrow wide open receivers and so on. And when they do this, the truly sucky teams can stay close and even win the game, if they can get out of their own way.

This happens ALL THE TIME in the NFL. These Chiefs are a terrible team, but they stayed close in Baltimore thanks to a blocked punt and a long interception return. They took the Cowboys to overtime thanks to Dallas’ sheer incompetence and a good two-minute drive at the end (a drive made possible when Cowboys defensive back Terrence Newman** dropped a sure interception). In the NFL, you just CANNOT HELP but get chances to win.

**Terrence Newman stands out for me because I once wrote a column about him at Kansas State … and he sent me a kind note thanking me. That’s unusual in itself, but what struck me about the note was that he signed it “Your biggest fan, Terrence Newman.” I’m guessing he signed all his thank you cards that way, which is charming in itself.

So, there you have it. The Washington Snyders* have faced five winless teams. And they have a losing record. Now, they face their sixth straight winless team this Sunday at home. It really is astounding … especially because Washington would probably have a losing record itself if the schedule was a little bit different.

*I most definitely do NOT want to go off on another nickname rant — it has been two years since I wrote why I think the Cleveland Indians should get rid of Chief Wahoo and I STILL get angry email about it. But doesn’t it seem a bit, I don’t know, odd to have what is clearly the most controversial nickname in professional sports in our nation’s capital? I mean, seriously, aren’t there about a million AWESOME potential nicknames for a team in Washington, D.C.? I mean, the New England Patriots is such a good name — you don’t think the people of Washington can come up with something that cool?

Look: I know people do not want to “cave in” into the political correctness … I understand that. I really do. I know that it does at times feel like everyone out there is way too sensitive, like people will take even the most innocuous things way too personally. It’s easy to feel like all the things that we grew up with — the things we feel comfortable with — are under constant assault. I get that. The nation’s capital has had a football team called the Redskins for more than 70 years, and our children still hold their hands over their hearts for the Pledge of Allegiance.

But, I don’t know: Washington football has been adrift in a sea of lousiness for 17 years now. This seems as good a time as any to give the team a new nickname — one that actually reflects the city and the people — a new uniform and a new start. And if the new nickname happens to not insult millions of people, hey, win-win.