Should the Washington Football Team make a push to win the NFC East?

While the Washington Football Team enjoys a Week 8 bye, the battle for the NFC East division gets more embarrassing by the minute.

But after Washington put a beatdown on the Dallas Cowboys at FedexField in Week 7, the question everyone has been trying to ignore is officially staring us right in the face. Should the Washington Football Team actually make a push to win the NFC East?

Most teams standing at 2-5 through seven weeks of play are faced with two options. The first option is simple. You start looking for cruises leaving port in January and forget the rest of the season. The second option is, you actively start tanking for draft picks. But if you currently play in the NFC East, 2-5 may just have you in the driver’s seat for a first-round playoff game.

How did we even get here?

The simple reality is that there isn’t a good team in the NFC East. In fact, there may not even be a mediocre team in the NFC East. Between the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys, and Washington Football Team, the division has a combined record of 8-22-1, the worst in the NFL by leaps and bounds.

So of course, after beating up on the Dallas Cowboys two weeks ago, the Washington Football Team paved themselves a path to a lead in the division, now trailing by just a game and a half to the Philidelphia Eagles. It feels good to win by default, doesn’t it? Of course it doesn’t.

But Washington has a chance to change the culture of the franchise once again. It starts with attacking this schedule and making a push to win this division. Here are three reasons why the Washington Football Team should push to win this division.

First things first, Trevor Lawrence isn’t coming to D.C., okay? Let’s just get that out of the way now. Tank for Trevor isn’t a thing for Washington. As long as the New York Jets exist on planet earth, you can forget it.

The second reason comes down to something bigger. It comes down to the soul of this team.

What message does Ron Rivera want to send to his team? Professional football players are not fans. They don’t live for next year’s draft. They aren’t invested in what the future of a franchise looks like in the years to come. They’re here to play, and they are here to win. You only get 16 games a year and every week, this team should be focused on finding a way to win.

The third reason is defined in two simple words. Why not?

Why not take a shot? What if you got into the dance? The memes are good, and the jokes are plenty, but at the end of the day, one of these teams is hosting a playoff game. The Washington Football Team beat the Eagles Week 1, thumped the Cowboys last week, and was a two-point conversion away from beating the Giants a few weeks ago.

Why not here? Why not now? Washington and Ron Rivera has the chance, it’s their turn to make something happen. Instead of talking about the draft in October, the Washington Football Team has the chance to give football fans in our nation’s capital something more exciting to talk about.

But like every opportunity in existence, it has to be taken. It starts against the Giants this coming Sunday.