Declension

Team :: 2005 Record :: 2006 Record :: Net Change

New Orleans :: 3-13 :: 10-6 :: +7
Baltimore :: 6-10 :: 13-3 :: +7
NY Jets :: 4-12 :: 10-6 :: +6
San Diego :: 9-7 :: 14-2 :: +5
Green Bay :: 4-12 :: 8-8 :: +4
Philly :: 6-10 :: 10-6 :: +4
Tennessee :: 4-12 :: 8-8 :: +4
Houston :: 2-14 :: 6-10 :: +4
San Fransisco :: 4-12 :: 7-9 :: +3
Chicago :: 11-5 :: 13-3 :: +2
New England :: 10-6 :: 12-4 :: +2
Buffalo :: 5-11 :: 7-9 :: +2
St. Louis :: 6-10 :: 8-8 :: +2
Dallas :: 9-7 :: 9-7 :: NONE
Arizona :: 5-11 :: 5-11 :: NONE
Kansas City :: 10-6 :: 9-7 :: -1
Atlanta :: 8-8 :: 7-9 :: -1
Cleveland :: 6-10 :: 4-12 :: -2
Indy :: 14-2 :: 12-4 :: -2
Oakland :: 4-12 :: 2-14 :: -2
Detroit :: 5-11 :: 3-13 :: -2
NY Giants :: 11-5 :: 8-8 :: -3
Miami :: 9-7 :: 6-10 :: -3
Cincy :: 11-5 :: 8-8 :: -3
Pittsburgh :: 11-5 :: 8-8 :: -3
Carolina :: 11-5 :: 8-8 :: -3
Minnesota :: 9-7 :: 6-10 :: -3
Jacksonville :: 12-4 :: 8-8 :: -4
Seattle :: 13-3 :: 9-7 :: -4
Denver :: 13-3 :: 9-7 :: -4
Washington :: 10-6 :: 5-11 :: -5
Tampa Bay :: 11-5 :: 4-12 :: -7

Much has been made of late about how we, as fans, should or are measuring progress. I've always maintained that wins are a good place to start. Not the only metric, but an uncontroversial and definitive measure nonetheless.

As the above clearly shows, only the Tampa Bay Bucs regressed more than the Washington Redskins from 2005-2006. And perhaps even that fall from grace is comparable; we at least won a postseason game in the '05 season (against the Bucs!).

We can play the blame game ad infinitum. It was injuries it was Coaching it was bad luck it was personnel decisions it was fate it was Astrology. It was disappointing, whatever it was. And we cannot look beyond my admittedly short-time-lined analysis; it's been fairly grim for more than a minute in D.C. The truly depressing part of losing twice as many games last year as we did the one before is that it almost nullifies hope as pointless. To chart '05 and '06 and '07 on a graph given just the data points above, we'd lose ZERO games next year. That's not going to happen, but we should at least offer recognition of the direction we've gone in just over a year.

But hope springs eternal! As depressing as the Redskins from 10 wins to 5 wins might be, there is empirical evidence that drastic turnarounds are possible. Presuming that 10 wins is a good place to be (and would probably put us in the playoffs), no less than 10% of the league won 5 more games in '06 than they had in '05. Even Your Washington Redskins leapt from 6 wins to 10 wins from '04 to '05. Would a 9-7 record put is in the postseason? Maybe it would and maybe it wouldn't, but at least we'd have some encouraging data points on which to draw hopeful conclusions.

As it stands, 5-11 is not progress. If we want to applaud the offseason of 2007, we should do so only after a successful season of Football -- as measured in foes defeated on the field.