Will quarterback Donovan McNabb step forward and squash the preposterous suggestion that his white coach benched him because he is black?

Or will he say nothing and let race infect this overblown drama and sully the reputation of Mike Shanahan?

History points to McNabb saying nothing. Years ago, early in McNabb’s career, Rush Limbaugh said the quarterback’s skills were overrated by many sports media. He was accused of racism and fired by ESPN. Limbaugh is not a racist, but McNabb – to my knowledge – let the insidious charge fester.

Shanahan benched McNabb with about two minutes left in the Lions game. McNabb was not playing well and had just thrown an interception. Shanahan, a good coach with a solid reputation and two Super Bowl rings, was hired to win games. He said he thought back-up Rex Grossman might run the hurry-up offense better than McNabb. Whether Shanahan’s judgment was right or wrong, his rationale was to win the game.

Shanahan has been second-guessed and berated for two weeks. It was inevitable that the chatter among some talk show blowhards and sports columnists would descend to race. Columnist Mike Wise wrote that although Shanahan’s decision to bench McNabb was “most likely” to help the team, the coach should be more sensitive to the Redskins alleged dubious history with some black players. He rambles on about Doug Williams, Jason Campbell, Bobby Mitchell – all black players for the Redskins – but gives no concrete examples of racism. Wise appears to have chosen just another angle to milk the story, to gain more readers and listeners.

Mike Shanahan has played with and coached black players for decades. To my knowledge he has never expressed nor demonstrated racism. It’s not his job to be preoccupied with the racial history of the Redskins or any franchise – his job is to win football games.

I am a New York Giants fan. When McNabb played for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Eagles and Giants played twice a year and often in the playoffs, I saw many of these games. At best, McNabb is a good quarterback. He has never been a great quarterback, never among the game’s top tier: Montana, Elway, Aikman, Brady and many others.

With the Redskins, McNabb has not even been good. His stats and rating this season are not impressive. But he is well-liked and Redskins fans have invested much faith in him. They were crestfallen when he was benched, but he was benched for performance reasons, not because he is black.

Will McNabb defend his coach against this baseless, unfair charge? It’s the right thing to do, but history does not encourage optimism.

Be the first to post a comment!