Maybe Tony Banks should have taken the money while it was on the table. Put in a position where he had to throw the ball accurately with the game on the line, he couldn't. The defense wasn't perfect, but it did produce four turnovers. You play a bitter rival at home, in a fight for a spot in the playoffs, with the aid of four turnovers -- two of them in the final eight minutes -- you're supposed to win. Every time you figure the Redskins can't win, they do, and every time they have a chance to make something of their season, they don't. Even in a league that's difficult to figure, the Redskins are maddening.

Schottenheimer was his usual calm self, outwardly, after yesterday's loss. But the bet here is Game 13 must have frustrated him more than any other. He must have used the phrase "very frustrated" or some slight variation a half-dozen times, and who could blame him? He complimented his players, saying they "fought their tails off to the bitter end." But he added, "and it is indeed a bitter end." 
The Redskins' chance to win the NFC East ended with their seventh loss; the Eagles have four and only three games remain. A chance to gain ground on Tampa Bay, Atlanta, and maybe New Orleans in the wild-card chase didn't end, but it hit a giant speed bump. If the Redskins can't beat the sorry Cowboys at home and the good-but-not-great Eagles at home with everything on the line, why should we believe they'll do anything different against the Bears next Sunday, or the Saints the week after that?
Actually, the way the Redskins have played this season, they will beat the Bears and Saints, then come home and lose to the Cardinals.
The Redskins should have been up 13-0 in this game, should have taken control of it early after that tag-team combo defensive play, Bruce Smith's pass rush and hit that caused a popup that Big Daddy intercepted. Problem was, Brett Conway missed a 39-yard field goal. That made three "doinks" off the goal post in five kicks. You couldn't hit the post three times in five if you tried it 50 times from 10 yards out. The Redskins should have scored after Darrell Green's historic interception deep in Philly territory, on a fourth-quarter throw that never should have been made. They should have scored following Smith's takeaway, when he wrestled the ball from Duce Staley a few minutes later.
Okay, I know, the Eagles had only allowed two touchdowns on the road all season coming into Sunday's game. And on the road, where the Eagles are 6-0, they've allowed 3, 9, 7, 3, 10 and 6 points. That's absurd. "Two touchdowns in seven games, I don't care where you're playing, that's remarkable," Schottenheimer said.
And 13 offensive touchdowns in 16 games, no matter whom you're playing against, is puny.
Schottenheimer's conservative offense can work -- it has worked -- if the kicker makes his field-goal tries, if receivers and backs catch passes that hit them in the hands, if the quarterback doesn't make bad decisions and throws, like the ones made by Banks, who recently turned down the team's contract overtures. You don't have to throw the ball all over the yard to win these games.
"We had chances to take control of the game, and later to change the momentum of the game, and we didn't," right guard Ben Coleman said. "If we're ahead 13-0 we could have changed their approach, maybe even their game plan. At 13-0, Donovan McNabb has to beat you with his arm. The defense gave us the ball four times, two of them late and in great field position, and we didn't do what we're supposed to do. We didn't convert [third downs], we didn't take advantage of turnovers from point-blank range. We had a plethora of opportunities . . . When we watch the film tomorrow, we're going to be sick."
Yes they will be, and not only because they lost a big football game but because losses at this season are compounded with time running out and playoff spots being claimed.
Is the season over? Amazingly, no, it isn't.
Even though the Redskins are an unimpressive 6-7, Tampa Bay and Atlanta are only 7-6. And if the Saints lose to the Rams tonight, New Orleans will be 7-6. That's one game. Tampa Bay has to play the Saints next week, and the Ravens and Eagles. The Falcons have the Bills at home, but Miami on the road, and Carolina at home. The Saints (after the Rams) have to play at Tampa Bay and at home against the Redskins.
The problem, however, is that the two times the Redskins played games reasonable folks expected them to win (against the Cowboys and Eagles), they lost. 
Until they prove differently, perhaps we simply have to assume that the playoffs are a completely inappropriate subject for the Washington Redskins.