Terry Allen and the Redskins were left physically and emotionally battered after Sunday's defeat. (John McDonnell - The Post)

By Mark Maske
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 19, 1998; Page C1

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 18 – The once-unthinkable has become the norm for the Washington Redskins, and Coach Norv Turner and some of his players finally had seen enough today. The Redskins surrendered 41 consecutive points after being handed a gift of an early touchdown and lost to the Minnesota Vikings, 41-7, at the Metrodome to drop their record to 0-7.

The day ended with Turner and some of the team's locker-room leaders saying too many players have surrendered and their effort level isn't acceptable.

"The disappointing thing to me [is] we have some football players on our team who really know what competing is about – the Darrell Greens, the Terry Allens, the Marvcus Pattons – and they really fight their [butts] off," Turner said. "Darrell Green, he's covering guys that look to me about twice his size. He's running around fighting his [butt] off, and it's a shame to me that his efforts go for nothing because of where we are as a football team."

Green, the 5-foot-8 cornerback in his 16th season with the Redskins, shrugged off a sore knee and a sore shoulder and usually blanketed the Vikings' dynamic rookie wide receiver, 6-4 Randy Moss.

Turner called his team's offense, which managed only 177 yards today, "totally inept." The Redskins have a bye next weekend, and Turner pledged that lineup changes will be made before the team plays the New York Giants on Nov. 1 at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium. He indicated that Gus Frerotte's job isn't safe after the quarterback misfired on 16 of his 26 throws today in his return to the starting role.

Turner blasted his players during his halftime and postgame speeches, and his veterans didn't disagree with his assessments.

"I agree," Patton said. "I totally agree. ... It's just embarrassing. It's unbelievable and totally embarrassing to be 0-7. If everyone was giving their best efforts and dying on the field and we were 0-7, that'd be different. But to be 0-7 and play like we did, it's unbelievably embarrassing."

Said wide receiver Leslie Shepherd: "Norv was pretty upset after the game. He made his points that guys weren't playing hard. If you get to the point where guys aren't going hard, you've got nothing. If you don't have everybody, you have nothing. It's rock bottom. I know I say that every week, but it gets worse and worse."

The Vikings (6-0) and the Denver Broncos are the NFL's only unbeaten teams. The Redskins and the Carolina Panthers (0-6) are the only winless clubs.

Darryl Pounds, with ball, recovered a fumble, which led to Washington's only score. (AP)

There were a few bright spots for the Redskins today. Matt Turk kept them in contention for a while with a series of booming punts. Green chased around Moss for much of the afternoon and played the biggest role in keeping the rookie out of the end zone. The Redskins even had a 7-0 lead just over two minutes into the game when Allen provided a two-yard touchdown run after one of Turk's punts bounced off Moss and was recovered by Darryl Pounds.

The Vikings, though, simply were too much. Quarterback Randall Cunningham completed 20 of 34 passes for 259 yards and two touchdowns – bringing his 1998 totals to 12 touchdowns and no interceptions – before being given the final nine minutes of the game off. Robert Smith, with 103 rushing yards, became the sixth running back to have a 100-yard game against the Redskins in the past six weeks. Leroy Hoard provided a pair of one-yard touchdown plunges.

The Vikings got a one-yard touchdown pass from Cunningham to wide receiver Cris Carter 14 seconds before halftime to take a 21-7 advantage, and they never looked back.

The Redskins aren't just losing. They're losing big – by an average margin of 19 points. They've faced three of the NFL's best offensive teams – the San Francisco 49ers, the Denver Broncos and the Vikings – and have been outscored by a combined 124-33 in those games.

"Defensively I think we have a chance to be a decent defense," Turner said. "Once we got going, I thought we did some good things, especially in the second quarter. Special teams, our guys competed. Offensively we're just totally inept. We can't snap two plays together in a row and not jump offsides. When we do get the ball snapped properly and a guy's open, we can't get him the ball. When we get him the ball, he doesn't catch it. We've got guys going the wrong way. We're just not capable of performing offensively right now."

Frerotte, in his first start since the regular season opener, threw for 117 yards and had an interception. The Redskins converted two of their 14 third-down opportunities, and Frerotte failed to provide a spark for an offense now averaging 13 points per game.

"We're not capable of playing very well at that position," Turner said of quarterback. "... I don't know where we are. [Frerotte] obviously struggled today, along with everyone else."

Frerotte said: "I don't know what's going on. But I know I didn't have the greatest game of my life. ... We didn't get anything done. ... Maybe my talent level is not high enough. ... That's the only thing I can think of – to look at myself."

The Vikings were coming off an emotional win over the Green Bay Packers 13 days earlier and a bye week, and came out a bit flat. They went three plays and out on their possession. The Redskins couldn't move the ball either. But Turk's high, long punt struck Moss, who was trying to make a block as return man David Palmer was getting out of the way, and Pounds recovered the ball at Minnesota's 2-yard line. Allen got into the end zone on the next play to put the Redskins in front.

"I think we kind of took their defense for granted the first couple series, and in the first half we really weren't playing that good of football," said Moss, who finished with five catches for 64 yards.

The Vikings, however, produced touchdown drives on their second and third possessions. They went 68 yards to tie the game at 7. Palmer found a seam in the middle of the Redskins defense and made two tacklers miss to turn a pass from Cunningham into a 33-yard gain on a third-and-three play from the Washington 37. An offensive pass interference call against Carter for pushing off Green nullified an apparent touchdown. But tight end Andrew Glover caught Cunningham's pass in front of safety Leomont Evans for an 11-yard touchdown on the next play.

The Redskins again went nowhere, and Minnesota drove 73 yards to take the lead for good. Carter beat Pounds, the Redskins' No. 3 cornerback, for a 36-yard gain on third and eight from the Minnesota 29. Green, defending Moss, was called for interference to put the ball on the Redskins 1, and Hoard bulled his way into the end zone on second down.

Cary Blanchard sent a 49-yard field goal try in the second quarter wide left to keep the Redskins from getting closer, and Minnesota went 61 yards in about a minute to make it 21-7 just before the intermission. Moss got free for a 28-yard catch- and-run in which he darted all the way across the field, and followed that up with a pair of catches along the sideline for 10 and 12 yards. On third and goal from the 1, Carter stretched out to pull in Cunningham's dart of a throw for the touchdown. Only the Vikings' margin of victory was in doubt thereafter.

"Maybe they should have beaten us," Patton said. "But no way should they have beaten us 41-7. No way should we play the way we did."