'The only advantage we have right now,' said Pete Cronan, 'is the shape of the football. Among the questions, even within the team, is whether more leadership was lost in preseason cuts than was gained with more talented replacements. The Redskins opened with an I formation and a We attitude - but ended in confusion that has grown all too familiar.

Gibbs this week had preached a return to 'fanatical commitment' - and until punter/kickoff specialist Jeff Hayes put his instep to the ball eight seconds into the second quarter he got it. The final wasn't as bad the 73-0 mauling another gang of Bears hung on them in 1940, but it was the worst loss since a 53-0 whipping by the New York Giants in 1961. Nobody could recall such a bizarre turnaround. The numbing numbers today were: Redskins up, 10-0, after the first quarter and down, 28-10, with four-plus minutes left in the second. You know trouble is coming when the Theismann triple threat is as a punter, a tackler and a blocker. In this season that reached 1-3 today with a 45-10 loss to the unbeaten Chicago Bears, they have done very little right. Not so long ago, the Redskins did very little wrong each week. They began losing the game - and perhaps this sad and silly NFL season - today when Coach Joe Gibbs turned to quarterback Joe Theismann and said something like: 'You ever punt?' The Washington Redskins didn't even go down kicking this time.

Ny giants in fanatical football