Commentary : Redskins Now Appear to Be a Team That Is on Razor’s Edge

WASHINGTON — Last season’s Redskins would have rallied to beat the Bears. (Last season’s Redskins did; at Chicago in the playoffs, the Redskins trailed, 14-0, and won, 21-17.) Last season’s Redskins rallied to beat almost everyone -- they left more people breathless than Jerry Lee Lewis.

Besides the Bears, the Redskins recovered from 7-16 in the fourth period to beat the Jets, 17-16; from 0-16 in the third and 9-19 in the fourth to beat the Giants, 23-19; from 10-17 in the third to beat St. Louis, 34-17; and from 14-24 in the fourth to beat Minnesota in overtime, 27-24. (Mind you, this list hasn’t counted how the Redskins broke a 10-10 tie late in the fourth, then barely held on to beat Minnesota, 17-10, in the playoffs.)

So you can imagine how confident the Redskins must have felt on Sunday when they shaved it to 7-20 against the Bears midway into the third period. They had all the dependable historic symbolism on their side: They were behind, which is obviously where they’re comfortable. They were against the Bears, whom they had rallied to beat twice in a row in the playoffs; at Chicago, no less. And they’d already switched quarterbacks. Wasn’t that the clincher? That was the blueprint for last season’s miracles. Schroeder, in relief, torched the Giants; Williams, in relief, overtook the Vikings. Rolling across the open field like tumbleweed, the Redskins scored a touchdown in Rypien’s first series. Surely, all necessary other scores were inevitable.

That was then.

This is now.

After nailing four of his first six pass attempts, Rypien connected on only five of his next 16, and was intercepted in each of his next three series. His quarterback rating is now lower than the New Dick Van Dyke Show.

Having booed themselves hoarse at Williams, RFK’s short-fused fans chose to leave early rather than redirect their wrath at Rypien. Midway through the fourth quarter Bob (Bingo!) Uecker could have had his pick of 5,000 front row seats; there may even have been some immediate seating down front in Jack Kent Cooke’s box. On their hasty rush home, fans had to confront the unpleasant truth that the Redskins had been shredded by a second-string quarterback who collects his game plan at his psychiatrist’s office. (Speaking of doctors, Ditka’s had an easy ride. Talk about a no-stress environment. The toughest thing Ditka did all day was take off his sweater. He could’ve coached this game in surfer Jams.)

Comebacks haven’t been so forthcoming this season. “It isn’t so much us as the people we’re playing,” Williams said thoughtfully. “They know our ability to come back, they respect it. We’ve done it to them in the past, so they turn it up a notch to prevent it. Their coaches tell them, ‘Remember, the Redskins are known for their comebacks. Don’t let up.’ ” Indeed, in three of their five losses the Redskins have been outscored in the second half, and on Sunday both they and the Bears scored 14.

Their defense is now 26th in the NFL at preventing points. Only Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay are worse. Detroit and Dallas have allowed fewer points than the Redskins. So have San Diego, Kansas City and Atlanta. That’s a misprint, isn’t it? The last three weeks they’ve given up 99 points. That has to be a misprint, too.

Their pass rush must be at Club Med, because it’s nowhere near here. Their secondary is hobbling. Since he came back from injured reserve, Barry Wilburn’s always chasing taillights. Darrell Green got beat around the corner and down the field by a man who outweighs him by 35 pounds.

Did someone say turnovers? Sara Lee should have so many. They either can’t hold on to the ball, or, in Greg Coleman’s case, hold on to it too long.

And their schedule is murder. Last season’s opponents had a combined record of 69-96. This season, Redskins opponents are 70-62; opponents in their current six-week stretch of Schedule Hell-beginning in Houston and ending in Philly-are 42-24. The last team to travel a road like that was Napoleon’s. Discouragingly, the Redskins are straining to beat the creampuffs. They barely beat Pittsburgh, 30-29, and needed Max Zendejas’ miss to cling to a 20-17 spread over Green Bay.

The Redskins aren’t at the end of the line, but they can see it from here.

Still, they expect to win every game. “It doesn’t matter who we play,” said Mark May. “Even if it’s the Vikings -- and I mean the Swedish Vikings.”