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When it rains it pours.
At least that is how this week has begun for the Washington Football Team.
Sunday, Washington experienced a hugely disappointing first half, falling behind Dallas 24-0, to eventually lose 27-20.
Not only was there a loss, but there were also injuries to Taylor Heinicke, Terry McLaurin, Tyler Larsen to name a few.
Each subsequent day, Washington has had players testing positive for COVID, now totaling 17 players. If Jonathan Allen and Kendall Fuller was not enough, Wednesday brought news that Kyle Allen and Matt Ioannidis were the latest to test positive.
All of this as Washington is attempting to earn an NFC playoff birth, currently holding the number seven seed, entering the Week 15 games.
It seems a mountain of obstacles now for Washington to make the playoffs. BTW, Washington is seeking to make the playoffs for the fourth time in the last decade, having earned a playoff birth in 2012, 2015 and 2020.
If Washington were to somehow overcome all of these huge obstacles, and qualify for the 2021 playoffs, it would mark consecutive seasons the WFT played into the postseason, losing in 2020 in the first round at home to Tampa Bay 31-23.
Even more significantly, Washington has not been to the NFL playoffs in consecutive seasons, since they were actually in the playoffs three successive seasons in 1990, ’91 and ’92.
In 1990 Washington was a wild card, winning at Philadelphia 20-6, before losing in the second round at San Francisco 28-10.
In 1991, Washington went 14-2, won the NFC East, triumphing in two home playoff games at RFK Stadium over Atlanta 24-7 and Detroit 41-10, eventually winning Super Bowl XXVI in Minneapolis over the Buffalo Bills 37-24.
The 1992 team was again a Wild card participant in the playoffs, defeating the Vikings in Minnesota 24-7, before losing the following weekend to the 49ers in San Francisco 20-13.
Consequently, it has been 29 years since Washington executed its way into the playoffs in consecutive seasons.
With everything that has gone wrong for Washington this week, it is a reminder, a stark reminder, that no mere human knows the future.
Even more, it’s wisely been said, “the providence of God is like a Hebrew word–it can only be read backward.”