The Mysterious Case of Donovan McNabb

We shouldn’t be sad that we watched an unceremonious end to Donovan McNabb’s career this afternoon. He’ll leave the Washington Redskins before the NFL off-season can turn on, he’ll be signed by a team desperate for a decent quarterback, and he’ll have the opportunity to author an ending that may cement or chip away at what could be a Hall of Fame career.

But for the quarterback with the career that has defined the term ‘mercurial’ since his booed beginnings in the NFL, the Washington Redskins’ loss to the Dallas Cowboys narrows the view on McNabb’s greatness as a quarterback, and expands the doubt on his value in however many years remain in his career.

In a perfect world, Rex Grossman doesn’t throw for 300-plus yards and four touchdowns in a 20-point, fourth-quarter comeback on the road against the Redskins’ biggest rival. But would McNabb’s fate have it any other way? Would the man whose pro career has been a duality of his talent against a lack of support, statistics against an inability to win it all, a likeable nature against injuries and inconsistency, suddenly have an easier way to go publicly or privately?

It was one thing for Philadelphia Eagles’ head coach Andy Reid to release McNabb. Franchise quarterbacks that start and finish a career with one team are a rarity in the NFL, and after falling short of the Super Bowl expectations he helped to build along with McNabb, his eminent payday and talent of his back-ups Kevin Kolb and Michael Vick were too much for Reid to deny for sentimental reasons.

It was one thing for Redskins’ head coach Mike Shanahan, in the glory of his own arrogance and green-lit autonomy from Daniel Snyder to bench McNabb for the rest of the season. His history with quarterbacks is fickle, his success rate with passers not named John Elway is a failure when put mildly. To have expected tolerance for McNabb, a fast-aging QB who still has more talent than two-thirds of starting QB’s in the league, was a fool’s endeavor.

McNabb arrived in Washington on a short timetable for success, and the culture of coaching and ownership made it even shorter, as expected.

But these people didn’t spell the end for Donovan McNabb in Washington and the career twilight that is soon coming. Grossman’s exploits confirmed that a career backup impacted the performance of his teammates more than could McNabb, who signed a puzzling contract extension that allows the Redskins to sever ties without additional payment after this season. In the sample size that was Dallas week, Grossman proved a better quarterback.

And regrettably, Grossman proved the decisions of Shanahan and Reed legitimate.

McNabb has never been the loudest advocate against his critics. He has rarely introduced race, comparative analysis to other quarterbacks or a lack of talent around him as justifications for what went wrong, or as commodities for what went right. Maybe one day, when removed from the game and 24-hour news cycle, his opinions will allow greater perspective on the forces that affected so much of his career. The media coverage, the fan vitriol, the coaching maneuvers, all of it.

But the clearer perspective will wait for twilight, and thanks to Grossman, nightfall comes sooner than expected for Donovan McNabb.