The Germans have a lot of long words that encompass very difficult concepts. Words like “schadenfreude,” “Hubschrauberlandeplatz,” and “Verantwortungszuständigkeiten.” I don’t know if they have word for the frustration you feel when you’ve thought that your team had already managed to overcome the mistake you thought was going to cost them the game — like a fourth-quarter Ladell Betts fumble — only to discover that the relief-shattering error that was going to lead to a horrible loss was laying in wait a few minutes later, but whatever I was yelling at the teevee would be a great place to start, etymologically speaking.

Two things that playoff caliber teams do is win their home games and win their division games. Something else playoff caliber teams do? Score from the goal line. And for the second straight home division game, the failure was the same, an inability to get a touchdown once they got down to within sniffing distance. The Skins had seven chances inside the seven yard line to score a game-icing touchdown and came up with only a Scott Suisham field goal for their trouble. That left the door open for a Philadelphia comeback, which the Eagles accomplished on their very next drive, when Bryan Brian Westbrook went on a 57-yard screen pass scamper for the go-ahead score.

It was a terrible, and all too abrupt, way for the game to conclude, especially since the action before provided ample evidence that the Redskins were well on the way to solving many of their problems. A second-straight 100-yard rushing game from Clinton Portis seemed to provide the team with some identity. Jason Campbell played with poise and passed with accuracy, getting the ball to the wide receivers and passing for three touchdowns. The defense played some stifling football, frequently exposing Donovan McNabb as not being the accurate passer he once was.