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LANDOVER, Md.--The Washington Redskins will say their final goodbyes to Sean Taylor today--a day after they effectively laid to rest their playoff hopes.

And as painful as it may be to say, the problem starts at the top.

Joe Gibbs is a wonderful man whose integrity is beyond reproach. He demon-strated his strength and leadership during what had to have been the most difficult week the Redskins have endured in three-quarters of a century.

But in yesterday's confounding 17-16 loss to Buffalo, the Redskins showed early and late why they may be the NFL's most dysfunctional team--quite a feat in a league that includes the Oakland Raiders.

Forget for a moment the noble goal of honoring Taylor with a victory. The Redskins desperately needed a win to snap a three-game slide and maintain a pulse in the pathetic NFC wild-card race.

And Gibbs--who was primarily responsible for many, many Redskins victories during his first tenure as head coach--made a horrible call that could keep them out of the playoffs.

Calling consecutive time-outs is against NFL rules. Doing it to "ice" a kicker who's trying to win a game--as Buffalo's Rian Lindell was doing yesterday--is unsportsmanlike conduct.

"That was a huge decision on my part," Gibbs said later--but only after claiming that he thought an official said the move was legal. "I should know the rule, but it was heated down there. I have nobody to blame but myself. It's not [the official's] fault; it's my fault."

If a Hall of Fame coach hasn't memorized the rule book, he should at least designate someone on the NFL's largest and oldest coaching staff to advise him. Instead, Gibbs turned what would have been a difficult but makable 51-yard kick in the rain by a hot kicker into a 36-yard eventuality.

If that had been Gibbs' only tactical mistake yesterday (or this season), he'd get the benefit of the doubt--especially after the week he's endured. But it wasn't--not by a long shot.