Questionable Call Of The Week: Why Bench McNabb?

In just two short days, Mike Shanahan’s now-infamous fourth-quarter decision to let Rex Grossman run the two-minute offense instead of Donovan McNabb has gone from merely frustrating to utterly outraging. If the sports media’s talking heads are to be believed, Shanahan has now embarrassed himself, humiliated a high-caliber quarterback, lied to reporters, and completely lost his locker room. So considering all of that fallout, why even bench McNabb in the first place?

If I can piece together the details from Shanahan’s own explanations, I believe the reasoning goes like this: the team hasn’t practiced the two-minute, no-timeout offense in a few weeks, so McNabb wasn’t familiar with how to run it, and considering that McNabb had been dealing with a few nagging injuries that likely hampered him in practice, he might not have been in the best cardiovascular shape to run the drill anyway, so Shanahan went ahead and took him out of the game. I still don’t why that was so hard to say the first time he was asked about his decision, but apparently Mike Shanahan has adopted the Bill Belichick strategy of playing it close to the vest.

I’ll admit that I was pretty mad at the decision initially. But I think I understand Shanahan’s real motivations now. He’s not happy with McNabb, and it has nothing to do with McNabb’s practice habits (which according to ESPN and Tim Hasselbeck are apparently the league’s worst kept secret, except for the fact that NO ONE who covers the team has reported anything like that). It has everything to do with the fact that McNabb has thrown two game-endangering interceptions in the last two weeks, interceptions that 12-year veterans aren’t supposed to throw. I guess when he threw the ball into triple-coverage in Detroit (on a throw where he actually had a pocket in which to stand), Shanahan felt like he had to do something drastic. So he benched him to send a message. That message was: “If you aren’t playing well, then you don’t get to play. Even if we have to start Rex Grossman.”

"Ok, just play it cool, they haven't noticed you yet. Quick, do one of those goofy smiles. That'll throw 'em off."

Is that a possible explanation? Sure. Does it make the call any less questionable? No way. There were likely many other ways that Shanahan could have privately handled this, even if they didn’t have the slight hint of awkwardness that the coach might have wanted. Luckily, McNabb is a professional and has given no indication that he’ll just pout his way through the rest of the year. And Shanahan hasn’t given any indication other than that this choice was strictly business. The real problem here is the media scrutiny that has now descended unnecessarily upon Redskins Park. That alone is enough to second-guess Shanahan’s benching decision.

Oh, and a quick note to Hasselbeck and ESPN: the worst-kept secret in the league is that Bill Belichick is actually a Cylon.