Stop me if you’ve heard this before: A powerful public figure in Washington feels some heat from his constituents after another year of mediocrity and under performance. Needing to instill optimism, said public figure goes out and identifies a problem that’s just relevant enough to distract people from the more complicated (and much larger) problem. In a brilliant ploy at producing immediate short-term prosperity, the public figure throws wads of money at the small the problem, then talks publicly about the large problem in terms vague enough to make everyone forget about it a few weeks later. Ladies and gentlemen…the Washington Redskins!

In this particular story, the powerful public figure is team owner Dan Snyder. The stewing constituents are the fans. The small problem is the Redskin defense; the large problem is the Redskin offense. The wads of money amounted to $100 million over seven years, with the beneficiary being one Albert Haynesworth. Let’s make him the prism through which to evaluate the rest of this middle-tier Redskins franchise.

The Redskins once again showed their true colors when they signed the prized 28-year-old defensive tackle. Under Snyder, their general modus operandi has been to sacrifice long-term investments (see draft picks) for expensive short-term payouts (see free agents). Has it worked? Not really. Washington is 76-84 since Snyder took over in 1999, with no season yielding more than 10 wins. (But to their credit, they’ve been one of the most affluent businesses in the NFL.)

Haynesworth has a rare ability to dictate an entire NFL game. The earth-shattering plays he makes and double teams he demands can ruin an offensive game plan. The caveat is that Haynesworth, a former first-round pick, never played like this until he reached back-to-back contract years as a Titan. For much of his career, descriptions of Haynesworth included words like volatile, languid, streaky and but (as in “he’s gifted, but…).

In the weeks leading up to his free agency, Haynesworth strongly indicated that, like a morose investment banker or jaded happy-hour stripper, he’s just interested in the money. The Redskins sure interested him. League-leading attendance figures, steady merchandise sales and substantial corporate partnerships enabled Snyder’s club to award the two-time Pro Bowler with a record $41 million signing bonus. Whether Haynesworth will stay motivated after cashing monolithic checks is beside the point (for the record, the prediction here is that he absolutely will not). The bigger issue is that it’s just not smart football to tie up such hefty funds in a non-quarterback (especially when you have a defense that already ranked fourth in yards and sixth in points allowed last season, and an offense that ranked nineteenth in yards and twenty-eighth in points).

In fairness to Snyder, he and his trusted sidekick, VP of Football Operations Vinny Cerrato, tried to find a top-dollar quarterback. Washington made a serious run at Jay Cutler and later attempted to trade up in the draft for Mark Sanchez. In the end, not only did they fail to land a new signal caller, they wound up alienating the one they already had. Jason Campbell handled the situation with utmost class, but how does the 27-year-old finally blossom as a leader if he’s a publicly-acknowledged fallback option? (Exacerbating matters is that Campbell received zero calls from team officials about extending his contract, which expires after the season.)

Head coach Jim Zorn is a quarterback guru who has diligently ushered Campbell through his first experience in a West Coast offense. Problem is, Zorn was one of the driving forces behind the Cutler pursuit. In a private meeting, Zorn, admirably, leveled with his quarterback. But you wonder if somewhere in the conversation, he said to Campbell, “Hey, don’t feel bad if the team doesn’t want you––I’m not sure I’m wanted here either.” Indeed, Washington’s 4-1 start last year preceded a 4-7 finish, prompting whispers about whether Zorn might be let go. Remember, he was originally brought in to be this team’s offensive coordinator; the head coaching title came about only after Bill Cowher said no thanks.

The Redskins are a lot like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge: strong overall, but weak in the wrong places. You can’t win in the NFL when your chemistry and leadership is disjointed. That’s been the case here, best illustrated in Clinton Portis, who is chummy with the owner and has enough political capital to publicly criticize the coach and question the game plan. Running backs aren’t supposed to rule the locker room and huddle.

Of course, there’s still hope. A mountain of chips is stacked against Campbell and Zorn, but they still have a chance to come out, light the brutal NFC East on fire and redirect this franchise in 2009. To do so, they need each other.

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