Freddie Mitchell Says McNabb Should Have Been Benched. In The Super Bowl.

Memories get hazy with time. For example, FredEx thinks he was once a real NFL player. He also thinks Mike Shanahan has the right idea, and Andy Reid should have sat McNabb down in the most important game of their lives.

If T.O. says something or Freddie Mitchell says something, that's them running their mouth. But when Shanahan says something, it's OK. We live in such a double-standard world," said Mitchell.

First off, great use of the third person. Second, no one's taken more crap than Mike Shanahan for benching McNabb over the last few days. So this double-standard doesn't actually, you know, exist. But it's worth remembering that Mitchell, the self-proclaimed People's Champ, is convinced he's been blackballed from football because McNabb doesn't like him.

So take it with a grain of salt when Mitchell says Andy Reid should have sent McNabb to the sidelines in Super Bowl XXXIX:

I respect both Coach Reid and Coach Shanahan - they have two total different coaching theories," Mitchell said. "I can only wonder what would have happened in the Super Bowl if Reid stepped up and said, ‘You know what? You're playing like [expletive], you're benched.' I don't know many coaches that have the balls to do that. He was playing like [expletive] and he should have been benched. … And don't say he doesn't have a record of this; he did the same thing in every single championship game."

For the record, McNabb was 68 of 110 for 823 yards that postseason, with 7 TDs. Sure he had 3 INTs in the Super Bowl, but do you remember who his backup was? Koy Detmer, with his regular season QB rating of 40.3.

And therein lies the lesson for Mike Shanahan and all coaches. Different is not necessarily better. You could argue that the Skins are foundering and need something to shake them up, but benching McNabb means Rex Grossman. Yes, you look like a coaching genius if it works, but it's probably not going to work. Somehow there aren't 32 competent quarterbacks in the whole league (ask Carolina or Cleveland or Arizona), so it's highly unlikely that your team has a better option sitting on the bench.

Maybe McNabb's not a playoff QB anymore. But Rex Grossman isn't even a 4-4 QB. And JaMarcus Russell? Sure, why not. Maybe it'll help them get Andrew Luck.

Freddie Mitchell: McNabb Should've Been Benched In Super Bowl [Philly Sports Daily]