Coach Norv Turner, left, and GM Charley Casserly chat prior to their season finale against Dallas on Sunday. (Rich Lipski - The Post)

By Liz Clarke
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 28, 1998; Page A1

IRVING, Tex., Dec. 27 – With tonight's loss to the Dallas Cowboys, the Redskins' season lumbered to an awkward sort of finish, denied the finality that is a staple of all sports seasons, winning or losing. Around the NFL, playoff teams begin preparing this week for a run at Super Bowl XXXIII, while the teams that fell short set about strengthening their hand for next year. But the Redskins who clean out their lockers at Redskin Park on Monday morning aren't sure what they will find when they return for minicamp this summer.

The final game of the Redskins' season, a 23-7 loss, was overshadowed by the uncertainty that surrounds the team on almost every front. From owner to coach, starting quarterback to general manager, nearly every pivotal role with the Redskins is up for grabs pending the sale of the team by the estate of its late owner, Jack Kent Cooke.

"There is a close-knit family – not just among the players, but the organization," defensive tackle Dan Wilkinson said tonight after the game. "There is a lot of speculation floating over everybody's head with what our future is going to be."

Team president John Kent Cooke is attempting to buy the team and stadium from his father's estate, but he faces stiff competition from at least four groups. They consist of: New York City banker Howard Milstein and Bethesda businessman Daniel M. Snyder; Arizona developer Sam Grossman, who has added former Redskins coach Joe Gibbs to his investor group; Fort Worth investor David Bonderman, Washington real estate developer Ted Lerner and Texas banker Gerald J. Ford; and shipbuilder John J. McMullen, owner of the New Jersey Devils, and Chuck Dolan, the chairman of Cablevision Systems and owner of Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers.

Cooke has indicated he intends to keep Coach Norv Turner and General Manager Charley Casserly if he succeeds in buying the team. But no one knows whether his competitors would honor their contracts.

"You can't help but think about it – it's in the news every day," said rookie running back Skip Hicks, who sat out tonight's game with a sprained ankle. "The only thing I can do is get myself prepared for next year."

The Redskins haven't been to the playoffs since 1992. They won't go again after this disappointing season, which brought Turner's career record to 32-47-1. The reminders were all around him at the home of Turner's former team, the 1998 NFC East champion Dallas Cowboys. Texas Stadium was dotted with banners advertising "Playoff Tickets, 214-373-8000."

Against the Cowboys, the Redskins reverted to the play that characterized their first seven games, all losses: committing turnovers and incurring ill-timed penalties to fall behind 20-7 at halftime.

Despite the six-year slide in the Redskins' fortunes on the field, however, the team remains a coveted jewel among sports franchises – expected to sell for a record price of more than $700 million. But until that deal is consummated, likely within the next month, no major decision can be made about the direction of the team. And the first steps toward righting this troubled franchise will simply have to wait.

Philadelphia's long-suffering Eagles fans are poised for a successor to Coach Ray Rhodes, who announced his own firing as the season wound down. San Diego Coach June Jones is headed to Hawaii and the college ranks, and Baltimore Ravens Coach Ted Marchibroda is expected to be let go Monday. And in Carolina, where Coach Dom Capers's departure is predicted, team owner Jerry Richardson is expected to mount an aggressive campaign to woo Green Bay's highly regarded coach, Mike Holmgren. But Turner's future is impossible to call.

Meanwhile, on the final weekend of the NFL's regular season, Redskins officials watched as the value of the first-round draft pick they had acquired from the Carolina Panthers dropped slightly with Carolina's victory over the Indianapolis Colts. Instead of picking second overall – as the Redskins would have had the Panthers finished a league-worst 3-13 – they will pick fifth in the collegiate draft. And that puts top prospects such as running back Ricky Williams, the Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Texas, and quarterback Tim Couch – if he leaves Kentucky after his junior year – well out of reach.

The team has two first-round picks in the draft: Carolina's and its own, which should be solidly in the top half of the selection order. General Manager Charley Casserly has done extensive research on the selection, but he also serves at the pleasure of the team owner.

Even before the draft, important business decisions must be made about whether to keep more than a dozen players who become free agents at season's end. Among them are seven current starters: quarterback Trent Green, linebacker Marvcus Patton, center Cory Raymer, safeties Stanley Richard and Leomont Evans, running back Stephen Davis and wide receiver Leslie Shepherd. In addition, Gus Frerotte, who began the season as the team's starting quarterback, has said he wants to be traded if he can't have his old job back.

Only a year ago, the formula for success seemed obvious: If the Redskins could fix their main weakness of the 1997 season – the rushing defense – surely they could make the playoffs. So a pair of hefty defensive tackles was acquired for contracts worth a total of $57 million, and some NFL observers hailed the Redskins' productive offseason and anointed them favorites to win the NFC East division. Even normally circumspect Redskins officials conceded it would be a disappointment if the retooled squad didn't make the playoffs.

Signs of trouble abounded in the preseason, which ended with a 1-3 record. The Redskins' first few losses were attributed to a difficult early schedule, and when the team fell to 0-7, it seemed Turner's career in Washington was over.

The turnaround that followed the Redskins' disastrous start buoyed fans' spirits for a stretch, but has left a complicated task for the team's next owner, whose first order of business will be evaluating this confounding season.