It's tough to be a Redskins fan anymore.
The team is in another downward spiral after four straight losses have all but ended chances for reaching the playoffs. Opposing fans own FedEx Field. The quarterback is badly injured and another rebuilding era is coming that will make the next few years lean. Even Cowboys games are drawing higher ratings than the Redskins in Washington.
Now even players are turning on fans. Since Josh Norman and D.J. Swearinger chastised fans for not supporting them more at home games, the team is 0-4. The defense has been horrible. Down 40-0 to the hapless New York Giants on Sunday saw thousands of Redskins fans leave early. It was kinder than staying to boo, at least.
The latest bewildering move was Mason Foster supposedly sending a private Instagram message saying F the team and its fans. My words, not his exactly, because journalists are taught not to write that word even in a quote. Kids might be reading.
Foster didn't appear in the locker room on Wednesday. Surely, if the message was fake he would have shouted his innocence. Coach Jay Gruden essentially confirmed the linebacker wrote the profane message by not disputing it. Gruden's problem was some kind of bro code was broken by showing a private conversation.
Seriously, Gruden thinks the internet is private? There is no such thing. Many people have lost their jobs for doing something similar to Foster thinking the message was private. Those days are gone, America.
But the bigger sin was the Redskins' front office not sanctioning Foster or making him own up to it. Remember when vice president of personnel Doug Williams publicly apologized for misspeaking on a radio show about domestic violence? That's how it's done. Admit you screwed up, say you're sorry and everyone will move on. Williams is a great person that I'd ride alongside to the gates of Hell, so I'll respect his apology.
This time, there was silence from the front office over a player cursing out fans. Benching would be too severe, but owner Dan Snyder should fine Foster and make him stand before TV cameras to apologize. Forget issuing some statement in a press release. Stand there and show others how to take responsibility. Otherwise, why should kids ever say they're sorry when a Redskin player won't?
Snyder has spent the past year trying to regain fans, to little success. He even brought in Brian Lafemina as president of business operations to finally create fan-friendly measures.
Snyder should be livid his players are calling out fans who support this team. Fans who will be here long after these players and their successors are gone. At least, it used to be Redskins fans for life. Now, life is changing course as fans look elsewhere. And, who can blame them when a player replies with the f-word? That Foster was frustrated by fan criticism is no excuse.
This franchise and its half-century lock on fans is broken. Players blaming fans doesn't help.
Rick Snider has covered Washington sports since 1978. Follow him on Twitter: @Snide_Remarks
