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History sort of repeated itself on Sunday night, as the New England Patriots choked again and Eli Manning led the New York Giants to another fourth quarterback in football’s biggest game. But shortly after the closing seconds ticked off and the Giants celebrated “winning” the Super Bowl, the real NFL champions were crowned: the 5-11 Washington Redskins, who finished last in the NFC East.

The Redskins are 2011’s NFL champions because they were 2-0 against the Giants this season, winning both games by double digits — 28-14 at home in Week 1 and 23-10 in New Jersey in Week 15. This is not the first time the Redskins have taken this unusual route to an NFL title — in 1995 Norv Turner’s two-headed quarterback monster of Gus Frerotte and Heath Shuler twice defeated Barry Switzer’s Dallas Cowboys.  While the Cowboys beat the Steelers in that year’s Super Bowl, that 6-10 Redskins squad that finished third in a then five-team NFC East were crowned NFL champions.

So while this year’s Redskins quarterback Rex Grossman fell a little short in his prediction of an NFC East title — mainly because the team was 3-11 against teams that didn’t win the Super Bowl — he has illustrious company as a champion and leader of men.

Think this is ridiculous? Is it really more ridiculous than a team going 7-7 the first 14 weeks and just 9-7 in the regular season being crowned “champions of the world?” It’s getting awfully hockey-like in here.