Here are 4 biggest culprits in toxic RG3-Redskins relationship

Two preseason games – six offensive series – and we're already at critical mass with Robert Griffin III.

For the past few days, the narratives have fallen into a 2014 greatest-hits groove. The Washington Redskins are at a turning point at quarterback … Griffin is still coddled and self-important … Head coach Jay Gruden has shown remarkable patience … The offense is demonstrably better under (choose one, or both: Kirk Cousins/Colt McCoy).

Can we just file the divorce papers already?

Seriously, this is old. The arguments are stale. The barely subtle finger-pointing inside the (growing) pro-Gruden and (dwindling) pro-Griffin media factions is reaching exhausted levels. Everyone has their camp and their talking points and we've all heard them before. So why are we still here? Why is Griffin still starting? And when can we move on? Because this franchise is more likely to cave in on a nickname change than it is to pay Griffin the more than $16 million he is due next season.

While we're dividing up the valuables, let's go ahead and admit reality: everyone involved in this mess has had a hand in this thing imploding. There is no winner, only losers.

The four biggest?

• Daniel Snyder. "The owner loves Robert." This is one of the most repeated lines you'll hear from people who surround the quarterback. It makes sense. Washington gave up an absurd draft bounty in trading for Griffin and wasn't willing to make the mistake of cutting bait a year too early. It was inevitable that when Griffin was backed to the hilt, there would be consequences when the quarterback developed problems with, say, former coach Mike Shanahan.

So why did Snyder hire Gruden without making certain this was a coach who was over the moon in love with Griffin as a player? More to the point, why did Snyder not close the deal with Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell? He had done a heck of a job developing Russell Wilson and was on his way to winning a Super Bowl with him when he was in the interviewing mix. He did a pretty good job with Brett Favre over the years, too.

Instead, Snyder went with Gruden, whose crowning quarterback achievement was Andy Dalton. Between the skills of Dalton and Wilson, whose game looks more similar to a healthy RG3? Snyder chose Gruden, whose last best quarterback has skills more similar to Griffin's backup, Kirk Cousins.

This looked like an awkward fit for everyone involved.

• Mike Shanahan. He suddenly loves to talk about Griffin in 2015. He has told us that Griffin basically never learned to play football on the NFL level, had no real playbook in college, can't slide … and oh, was also telling Shanahan what plays to run. OK.

Shanahan drafted the guy. He also drafted Cousins. And he said he considered drafting Russell Wilson that year, too. Oh, and Shanahan wanted Peyton Manning first and foremost.

It's hard to figure out fact from fiction here. But believe this: It was Shanahan's job to get Griffin's ego in check during that gravy train of a rookie season. It was his job to teach him how to play quarterback in the pros. And it was definitely his job to pull Griffin off the field in that January 2013 playoff game.

• Jay Gruden. The tough love campaign from 2014 has had a lot of consequences. You take open shots at your quarterback and eventually you poison the well to a state that it can never be cleansed.

It was open season on Griffin, yet Gruden, unfathomably, went an entire season without stepping in to deflect. Griffin saw that. His teammates saw that. It bolstered divisions inside the locker room. Soon ex-Redskins piled on. Teammates took veiled shots in the media.

The past offseason was spent trying to convince Griffin that Gruden was in his corner. Hires were supposedly made to help the quarterback. Positive things were said.

But Griffin was supposed to, what, forget about a season in which it seemed clear Gruden didn't want him? He is supposed to trust that – despite getting hammered and concussed behind a porous and shorthanded offensive line in the second preseason game – that Gruden is pulling for him?

It's a lot harder to turn a ship around than that, particularly when the media critics who were emboldened in 2014 are showing even less patience for any Griffin mistakes in 2015.

• Robert Griffin. He has struggled on the field, and he knows it. But he has to recognize that he has no other choice but to work on the failures and keep moving forward. Maybe he thinks his coach is biding his time until the owner pulls his support. But that's out of Griffin's hands. At this point, he can only run the plays that are available and if that ultimately leads to his demise, that's the way it was always going to be.

One thing is for sure: he has to know he can't say anything even mildly overconfident without getting obliterated in the media. So at some point, self-censorship has to become a survival trait. It works only if he follows it 100 percent, and he hasn't done that this preseason. Whether it's the "be basic" comments or the "best quarterback" stuff, there is an art to knowing what sounds tone-deaf or could potentially be blown out of proportion. Griffin has struggled with that as well. The only thing he should care about is being a better NFL quarterback, and not what people think about him. And if he feels like he isn't allowed to express himself otherwise, then he has to deal with the consequences without constant clarifications.

We're in the midst of Griffin's exit from this franchise. The environment has become too broken to repair. If Gruden is motivated to go with someone else after the third preseason game, he needs to make a decision and stick with it. And if Snyder hasn't figured it out, he needs to stop backing Griffin and let the nature of the NFL sort it out.

And Griffin? Regardless of what happens next, he is better off keeping his head down, saying little publicly, and focusing on shaping opinions from the field. If he can't change minds in 2015, well, the NFL is the land of second opportunities for first-round quarterbacks. Leave Washington and go work on a rebirth under Darrell Bevell or Chip Kelly or Greg Roman. Until then, end this cycle of nonsensical blame.

We're entering Year 3 of turmoil, arguing about the same things, pointing fingers in all directions. Nobody should be buying that any single party is responsible for this mess. Robert Griffin's demise has been a shared debacle over several years. Finally, maybe mercifully, it's headed for divorce.