National Football League

Redskins end franchise QB drought

Published Apr. 6, 2010 10:07 p.m. ET

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By David Elfin, Sports Media Exchange

The Washington Redskins, the franchise that started two Hall of Fame passers and four Super Bowl quarterbacks from 1952-91, has been searching for a solution to the game's most important position ever since.

And it's no coincidence that the Redskins haven't come close to playing for a title during the ensuing 18 seasons – while starting 19 quarterbacks. Washington has tried and failed with ballyhooed rookies, including Heath Shuler; street free agents, including Trent Green; and big-time acquisitions, including Jeff George.

But since Super Bowl XXVI MVP Mark Rypien started his last game in burgundy and gold on New Year's Eve 1993, only Gus Frerotte and the just-benched Jason Campbell have started as many as 40 games at quarterback for the Redskins.

Dan Snyder and his slew of coaches have tried just about every option to solve the position during his 11 years as owner except for bringing ex-MVP Joe Theismann out of retirement.

Not that the 60-year-old doesn't think he can still play.

But the Redskins' braintrust of Snyder, new coach Mike Shanahan and new general manager Bruce Allen believe they have finally found their man in Donovan McNabb, the six-time Pro Bowl quarterback whom they acquired in a trade with the NFC East rival Philadelphia Eagles for two draft picks on Easter evening.

The deal, which began to be discussed a month earlier, was finalized fairly quickly.

"I didn't think there was really going to be an opportunity to get Donovan," Shanahan said Tuesday during McNabb's welcome to Washington press conference. "At the end of the day when the deal was done, I was a little bit surprised, but not shocked. I was very excited.”

Shanahan, who coached Hall of Fame quarterbacks John Elway (Denver) and Steve Young (San Francisco), knows the value of the big-game experience Donovan brings.

“When you do have a quarterback that has won, a quarterback that knows how to lead, a quarterback that knows how to set the standard, it sets the tempo for the rest of the team. It doesn't happen very often when you [can acquire] players like that in the situation that we were in so I felt very, very fortunate for this to come about."

So does fullback Mike Sellers, McNabb's only new teammate who was a Redskin before the quarterback went second overall to the Eagles in the 1999 draft. That was also the only year that Washington won the NFC East during those fallow 18 years, thanks in large part to newly-acquired veteran quarterback Brad Johnson.

"When I heard about the trade I thought it was April Fool's until I checked the date," Sellers said. "It's pretty much been a toss-up [at quarterback] since Brad was here and he led us to the division title. But we didn't have a defense. Lately, we've had a defense, but we didn't have an offense. Now everything's coming together. I'm sad because Jason's a good friend of mine, but Donovan's a winner. He's going to take us to the next level."

Given the Redskins' 4-12 record last season, their worst in 15 years, the next level isn't much of a stretch. And neither McNabb, who turns 34 in November, nor the 57-year-old Shanahan, is the patient type.

They're planning to immediately compete for the division title with the Eagles, Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants, who've each won at least two NFC East crowns since the Redskins last did so.

The Eagles were 3-13 and hadn't been to the NFC Championship Game in 18 years when they drafted McNabb. Two years later in his first full season as the starter, he led them to the playoffs. Four straight conference title games and a Super Bowl followed the next four years.

"All of a sudden a guy comes in ... and takes a franchise to the NFC Championship Game five of his 11 years," Shanahan said of McNabb. "I'm excited to have him as our quarterback. [He has] everything you look for in a quarterback and I'm not just talking about the physical attributes: leadership, how he carries himself ..."

Back in 1995, Shanahan inherited a 7-9 team in Denver. In his second season, he guided the Broncos to the AFC's best record followed by those consecutive Lombardi Trophies, the only ones in franchise history.

"The things he has accomplished with great quarterbacks like John Elway, a guy who I've been pretty much compared [to] throughout my career," McNabb said. "It just so happens that [Mike inherited John] when he was 34 and I'm turning 34 this year. They finished John's career with two Super Bowls. Hopefully, I can continue to follow [that pattern]."

That's a tall order, but a much better path to follow than the one set the last time the Redskins added a coach who had been an offensive coordinator and won consecutive Super Bowls and a quarterback who wore No. 5. That was in 1994 with Norv Turner and Heath Shuler, the tandem that set the standard of frustration that has characterized the Redskins in any NFL franchise's most important jobs during the past 18 seasons.

Shanahan and McNabb are way more proven in their roles than those neophytes were, but Washington remains the organization where even the most acclaimed careers wind up being tarnished.

Just ask Joe Gibbs.

Good thing he was already enshrined in Canton before he returned to the Redskins.

And despite those terming them future Hall of Famers, neither Shanahan nor McNabb are being measured for busts quite yet.

But if they team up to win a Super Bowl in Washington, they will be.