On Wednesday, President Obama will pardon a turkey as part of the White House’s annual Thanksgiving celebration. Meanwhile, the turkeys down the road in Ashburn are getting ready to do the opposite to Robert Griffin III, essentially axing their young quarterback – the one who’s two years removed from leading a team to the playoffs and winning offensive rookie of the year.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports Colt McCoy will start Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts, ending RG3’s three-game “tryout” following an ankle injury in Week 2 of this season.

It appears to be an ignominious end for a quarterback so closely removed from NFL greatness.

Two years ago this week, Griffin was in Dallas, winning a season-saving Thanksgiving game in front of a massive television audience, en route to a seven-game winning streak and division title. He was the toast of the NFL. Now he’s on the verge of being left on the curb, available for the best offer. The one-time king of D.C. relegated to exile by the biggest jesters in town – Daniel Snyder, Bruce Allen and Jay Gruden.

Bruce Kluckhohn/USA TODAY Sports

If this turn of events hadn’t been foreshadowed for weeks, it’d be completely inconceivable. How could Robert Griffin III be benched for performance? They always say you couldn’t write that script. This time, it’s true.

For now, it’s McCoy’s turn. He wasn’t the original backup to RG3 – that was Kirk Cousins, who lasted five weeks before being pulled for the former University of Texas star. McCoy led the team to a win against the Tennessee Titans after entering the game at halftime, then followed that up with a sterling Monday night win over the rival Dallas Cowboys in the NFL upset of the year.

He figured to start the following week in Minnesota, especially with a bye week to follow that would have given Griffin an extra 14 days to get healthy. Instead, the team rushed Griffin back, despite the fact he hadn’t taken all practice reps that week, didn’t appear fully healthy and, again, had that bye week. It was as if the Redskins were scared of what would happen if McCoy lit up the Vikings after the Cowboys and created a quarterback controversy. “Can we bring back RG3 if McCoy keeps winning?” It never seemed to occur to them that poor play by RG3 would do the same. Indecision and second-guessing rule the day in Washington.

(AP)

And it’ll happen again this week.

After three mediocre games since his return, including a winnable road game against a tough San Francisco 49ers team on Sunday, Griffin had a fantastic opportunity to put up numbers against a Colts defense Sunday that’s allowed point totals of 51 and 42 in two of their past four games. Since Jim Haslett’s defense is the only thing more porous than Jay Gruden’s offensive line, RG3 could have gotten into a shootout with Andrew Luck and gained some confidence. That game had a 42-31 result written all over it. This was the time to get Griffin football healthy.

It wasn’t to be and now RG3 is benched after getting just four games this season to prove he can be the quarterback he was in 2012. (Forget 2013, he was rushed back too soon.) He played those games with a coach who didn’t know how to use him and an offensive line that seems to think it’s shadowboxing. It was like RG3 was set up for failure.

Great franchises don’t make knee-jerk decisions based on small sample size. Even good franchises know to try and get a return on a massive investment. Any franchise knows that to turn the starting quarterback into a carousel is a recipe for disaster. (Just because it worked for Joe Gibbs in 1987 doesn’t mean it’s working for you in 2014, Jay Gruden.)

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The flip-flopping is so bad it would make Congress blush.

Is this the end for RG3 in Washington?

It’s hard to see how it’s not.

Though there are reports a McCoy start doesn’t mean the end for Griffin, who could believe that? That’s the most disingenuous spin this side of Capitol Hill.

You don’t bench a quarterback taken second in the NFL draft less than 1,000 days ago and then bring him back later as if nothing’s the matter.  There’s no turning back from that and if there is – well, that’s just as laughable as benching him in the first place.

(AP)

If RG3 starts the first game of 2015 (which is still a distinct possibility) it shows that even Ringling Brothers can’t compete with Redskins Park.

The team makes moves in the immediate without considering what it means for the future.

Why do this now, with five games left? Does Gruden (or whoever is calling the shots) think Griffin lost the locker room? Does the coach not trust himself to help his quarterback earn it back? Is RG3 his scapegoat to buy time with an impetuous owner? Why not let him play the last five games to get acclimated to Jay Gruden’s offense? Griffin wasn’t the Heisman winner, No. 2 pick and rookie of the year for nothing, after all.

(James Lang/USA TODAY Sports)

Is this to increase trade value? Why? What’s the best-case scenario there? If McCoy shines, it means Griffin is worse than expected and the ‘Skins lose leverage. If McCoy flops, then what – Griffin is his equal? It’s a lose-lose.

Every day across the country, sports radio airwaves are filled with people who think they could do a better job running the team than the coach, general manager or owner. Being a sports fan is mostly about frustration, so blowing off that steam and claiming to know the recipe for success, however ridiculous it may be, can be cathartic. There will be plenty of those calls lighting up the switchboards on Wednesday in Washington.

The difference is those seething fans might actually be right.

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