Let’s begin Week 10 of the NFL season with a cold, hard truth: Since they came to Washington in 1937, the Redskins have never been .500 (or worse) at the halfway point and made the playoffs.

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Surprising, no? After all, many of Joe Gibbs’ teams were fast finishers. Indeed, the last two times the Redskins earned a wildcard berth under him, they won their last four games (2007) and their last five games (2005).

Both years, though, they were 5-3 at this stage. The current Redskins are 4-4 – and coming off a dispiriting loss in Detroit during which they saw their starting quarterback get benched. Granted, they’ve had a couple of nice wins (Packers in overtime, at Philadelphia) and are 2-0 in the NFC East, but they’re not in a very good place at the moment. They’re going to have to play a lot better the rest of the way if they don’t want to be cleaning out their lockers in the first week of January.

All you have to do is glance at the standings to grasp that. Seven NFC teams have winning records right now, two of them in the Redskins’ own division (the Giants at 6-2 and the Eagles at 5-3). The Rams, meanwhile, are tied with the Redskins but have beaten them head-to-head. On top of all this, there’s hardly a gimmie left on the Redskins’ schedule (though the Cowboys, if they keep going the way they’ve been, would probably have trouble beating anybody, even TCU).

Bye week, of course, is a time for reflecting, and Redskins fans can only hope Mike Shanahan has done his fair share of it. It’s his offense that has been holding the club back, though Shanahan seems more inclined to blame the quarterback – or at least, he did in dying minutes against the Lions.

But the bigger issue is: How does he plan to address the offense’s many problems – poor protection, an in-and-out running game, McNabb’s on-the-job training (and occasional wildness) and a general lack of playmakers – in the second half of the season? Because you certainly don’t get the sense, up to now, that he’s done much to modify his scheme to deal with the realities of the situation. It’s like he has said, “Here’s my offense. Run it. And keep running it until you get it right.”

That’s probably an oversimplification, but the appearance is the reality. And let’s face it, Shanny hasn’t exactly come across as Mr. Flexibility. He and offensive coordinator/son Kyle need to face facts – that the O-line is exposing the QB to too many hits – and come up with ways to get the ball out of McNabb’s hand sooner.

One way would be to have him throw more to his backs, something he did often in Philly (with Brian Westbrook usually on the receiving end). In the first eight games, Ryan Torain, Keiland Williams, Mike Sellers and Clinton Portis caught a combined 38 passes for 290 yards and one touchdown. That’s not nearly enough – not when you consider the abuse the quarterback has been taking.

Maybe Shanahan doesn’t feel his backs are good enough receivers. Maybe that’s why he hasn’t used them more in the passing game. But if that’s the case, whose fault is that? This is 2010, not 1910. You need a receiving threat out of the backfield, a safety-valve guy if nothing else.

Some coaches place too much faith in X’s and O’s – and forget that, in real life, Stuff Happens. I mean, every play works IN THEORY. Then you get out on the field, and somebody misses a block or the defense does something unexpected . . . and the QB winds up on his back. At a certain point, a point the Redskins would seem to be at, a voice inside the coach’s head should say: “You know, maybe we need to do some things a little differently. Maybe we need to adjust.”

This isn’t about who’s the boss. It isn’t about sticking with the offense, for richer and for poorer. It’s about getting as much as you can out of the available talent, regardless of its shortcomings. It’s about playing to your players’ – and especially your QB’s – strengths. Has Shanahan really been doing that? Or has he been too reluctant, too stubborn to change his ways? The offense hasn’t evolved much, that’s for sure.

But again, that’s what bye week is for: reevaluation. Perhaps, in the days ahead, Shanahan will begin to see his offense for what it is – and isn’t. Two or three years down the road all the pieces might be in place, but right now it’s about week-to-week survival and finding something – anything – that might work.

Besides, the way quarterbacks have been going down, this is looking more and more like one of those Last Man Standing kinds of seasons. In the NFC East, three passers have already spent time on the injured list – the Cowboys’ Tony Romo and the Eagles’ Michael Vick and Kevin Kolb. If you can just keep your QB upright for 16 games, you might have a shot at the playoffs.

That’s something else Shanahan should be thinking about: What can I do to make the world safer for McNabb? Keep the tight end(s) in more to block? Rely more heavily on the shotgun? Move Donovan around more in the pocket? Stick more with the short stuff? As limited as this offense is, Shanny still has options.

The Redskins are 4-4. If they go 4-4 in the second half, their season will be over. This is where they are as Week 10 gets underway – looking for answers that might enable them to make a playoff run, even though those answers might not be the ones the coach would prefer.