WASHINGTON — Maybe we should have seen this coming. Sunday’s Redskins’ game at Wembley Stadium in London provided the answer to the question of what would happen when a 4-3 team played a 3-4 team at a neutral site: a neutral result.
The 4-3 Redskins and the 3-4 Bengals played to a 27-27 tie after almost four hours of football. The afternoon in the U.K. was far from boring, and sometimes as mystifying as Stonehenge. It was hard to tell which team had momentum.
The Redskins racked up 226 yards in the first half, but only scored 10 points. Kirk Cousins finished with career-high 458 yards passing, but like the Bengals, the Redskins stumbled when it mattered most.
In short, Sunday’s result reflected the Redskins season: a mixture of good and bad, leading to an incomplete grade for the Redskins after eight games. Who are these Redskins — the team that won four straight games or the team that is now suddenly stuck in a cul-de-sac of inconsistency after the loss to the Lions and the tie with Cincinnati?
Redskins Head Coach Jay Gruden believes his team is making progress. At 4-3-1, the Redskins have achieved their first winning record at the halfway point of the NFL season since 2008, but beware that season, the Redskins went from 6-2 to 8-8.
That’s life in the NFL. Like Sunday’s game, it’s hard to predict; it can change quickly, and in the end it might not be satisfying. The only clear conclusion is that we need a bye week to get ready for the second half of the season.
Fasten your seat belts.
