After Monday night’s 27-6 loss to San Francisco, Washington coach Mike Shanahan said the 49ers had “embarrassed” his team, and that he hadn’t seen anything like it in his four seasons as the coach.
“We went against an excellent football team that dominated us,” Shanahan said. “We haven’t got dominated like that since I’ve been here. Congratulations to them. They’re very well coached. They play well. We could have coached better, could have played better. We’ll do everything we can to get ready for next week. That’s the National Football League. They’re going to do that to a number of football teams. They have done it. They’re a pretty good football team. That’s one of the reasons they were in the Super Bowl last year.”
It’s really not accurate to say Washington hasn’t been dominated like that since Shanahan has been there. In 2010, Shanahan’s team lost 59-28 to the Eagles in a game in which they fell behind 28-0 in the first quarter. Later that year, Shanahan’s team lost 31-7 to the Giants in a game in which they fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter, 21-0 at halftime and 28-0 in the third quarter. In 2011, Washington had a 23-0 loss to Buffalo.
But Monday night was the most dominant loss of the last two years for Washington, and that has to be a concern. Last year it looked like Shanahan had finally turned this franchise around. This year Washington looks as bad as ever.