Ungrateful or Unsatisfied: A Misunderstood Fan Base

The Washington Redskins are not a perfect organization, but one thing it should pride itself on is its fan base. Redskins’ fans are genuinely some of the best fans, excuse me, people, that you could ever meet. Fans care about their team and have certain opinions on how it should be run or coached, which can lead to criticism. There’s just one big question that many people inside the fan base and out, want an answer to.

How can fans be so critical of the team when its winning?

After being thwarted by the Saints last Monday night 43-19, the Washington Redskins came back with a statement win against the then 3-1 Carolina Panthers. This win was huge for Washington, earning a tie breaker against an in-conference, playoff-contending team, while also regaining first place in the NFC East.

Perfect, right?

How could fans possibly have a problem with this? Washington bounced back from a heartbreaking loss against the Saints and beat a really good team within its conference. The team even climbed its way back up first place in its division. Fans should be happy.

Really? Should we?

Rewind to Week 1; Washington mauls the Arizona Cardinals, looking like a team that could compete with anyone. Great Win, and great overall team performance.

Next came the Indianapolis Colts. A heavily favored Redskins team was absolutely stunned by a Colts team that is currently 1-5. If you didn’t watch the week before, you would have thought the Redskins had a new coach searching for his first win.

Now flashback to Week 3; Washington sends a message to the league with an upset win over the Green Bay Packers. Fans and players celebrated, and looked forward to New Orleans.

In their next game, the Redskins laid an egg. They failed to show why anyone should take them seriously as a playoff-potential team in a competitive conference.

Every week it seems a different team plays for Washington. And this isn’t an issue that suddenly appeared this season.

Take a look back at last season. The last time Washington won two meaningful games consecutively, was week two and week three of last season. Every other game that the team won, with the exception of the meaningless Arizona game, it followed it up with a loss.

So if some Washington fans still seem a little bit pessimistic after this week’s win, they have the right to be. The only slim form of consistency this team has had in the last calendar year is inconsistency.

Fans aren’t being ungrateful when they continue to criticize the team after a loss, they just need to see more. They need to see more wins, consistently, in order to know that the team they are cheering for isn’t make believe.

I’m a huge Redskins fan and I loved the win yesterday. But if I were you, I’d wait to book my hotel room in Atlanta. Winning is great, but continuing to win is even better.