PARIS -- When the Ryder Cup comes to Whistling Straits in 2020, Phil Mickelson will be 50 years old. Tiger Woods will be 44. It's quite possible they will once again be players on the American Ryder Cup team. Maybe they'll qualify on points, or maybe their good friend Steve Stricker, the man likely to be the U.S. captain with the event headed to his home state of Wisconsin, will add them for veteran leadership. Maybe the two men who have been the twin pillars of American golf for 20 years will get one more shot at redemption in this event.

But because nothing is guaranteed in life or in golf, this week in Paris also might be the end for both men. And if it is, maybe that's for the best. They can put down the clubs, pick up a pairings sheet, or throw in an earpiece. Tiger can hand out fist bumps, Phil can offer up his belly to Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas to rub for good luck. Both men can pass the burden on to the next generation of Americans. They had their chance.

What happened to the Americans this week in Paris -- with the U.S. squad suffering one of its most demoralizing defeats ever in a 17½-10½ loss -- wasn't entirely Woods' and Mickelson's fault. Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 player in the world, went 1-3. He was almost as bad. But Woods and Mickelson, a combined 0-6, get to own the majority of it, in part because everyone knows they weren't just players -- they had a hand in the planning, too. Mickelson wanted the veteran players to have more input, and he stepped on Tom Watson's neck to get it. It helped them in Hazeltine, and they got plenty of credit. But when it goes bad, as it did this week, you have to own that, too.

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson had a miserable Ryder Cup, going a combined 0-6. Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Woods went 0-4 and looked sullen, distant and weary throughout the week. It should go down as the worst Ryder Cup performance of his career. He's just the fourth player to go winless in four matches since 1979. Mickelson went 0-2 and, in a fitting yet depressing moment, dumped his tee shot in the pond on the 16th hole, then shook hands with Francesco Molinari to concede their match, the clinching point and the Ryder Cup for the Europeans.

Tiger's fans will point to Phil and say he never should have been on the team. Phil's fans will point to Tiger and say he has never once shown he truly cares about this event, and that he makes everyone he plays with worse, even if through no fault of his own.

It's time to stop making excuses for either of them.

It's unfair to suggest they don't care. That's nonsense, and an insult to anyone who knows them, even a little bit. Both of them care a great deal, even if they show it in very different ways.

"It's difficult to talk about it," Mickelson said Sunday night after the loss when asked what the Ryder Cup means to him. "It's meant so much to me over the years. I did not play well this year. And this, realistically, could be my last one. I'm motivated now to not go out on this note."

But for whatever reason, they can't seem to translate that emotion into success. Mickelson seemed like he was turning the corner at Medinah in 2012, when he was chest-bumping and butt-slapping with Keegan Bradley on his way to winning three consecutive team matches. And it appeared Woods had found the perfect role at Hazeltine, prowling the grounds wearing an earpiece, keeping Patrick Reed calm as he lifted the United States to its first Ryder Cup win since 2008.

Yet these are the cold, hard facts. Phil now has 22 losses in this event, the most of any player in history on either side. Tiger has 21, the second most. That's not a fluke, not a small sample size (they've played 83 matches between them). This is who they are.