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Sunday’s game between the Eagles and Redskins was meaningless. But Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan used the pregame as the occasion to throw down the gauntlet for 2012.

The proclamation didn’t come publicly, but it was overheard by our colleagues at CSN Washington.

“Hey, about an hour ago, all right, their [defensive] coordinator [Juan Castillo] told us, told [offensive line coach Chris] Foerster, that [if] the Giants would have lost last week, they were in the playoffs,” Kyle Shanahan said. “He didn’t mention that they had to beat us today. F–k him, f–k these guys. In 2012 the Redskins are gonna be the NFC East champions, and that starts right f–king today.”

Kyle Shanahan’s remarks fall squarely within the realm of trying to fire up his team, not within the category of a true public guarantee. Still, with the 2011 regular season winding to a close, it’s never too early to start thinking about next season — even if an outside chance remains that Redskins owner Daniel Snyder won’t be able to resist the urge to hire a new coaching staff.

After all, no coach not named Joe Gibbs has lasted more than two seasons in Washington during Snyder’s time as the owner.

Chances are that both Mike and Kyle Shanahan will be back. The same may not be true as to many of the men to whom Kyle Shanahan’s message was directed. If the Redskins indeed plan to win the division in 2012, they need to get better players.