No one wants to hear the coach for the team they root for say in the first week of November that the time has come to begin evaluating the roster for next season.

But that is essentially where the Washington Redskins are at following a 21-13 loss at FedEx Field to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

Rich Campbell of the Washington Times reports Shanahan’s focus now is on the future with the Redskins struggling at 3-6. By no means have they been eliminated from anything but injuries have thinned out key positions on both sides of the ball and reality has set in even if it’s a little surprising to hear the admission this early in the season.

Shanahan had built the game up to be a “must win” affair earlier in the week and the Redskins were not able to score against a Panthers defense that has been woeful.

“Obviously very disappointing,” Shanahan said. “When you lose a game like that, now you’re playing to see who, obviously, is going to be on your football team for years to come. Now we get a chance to evaluate players and see where we’re at. Obviously, we’re not out of it statistically, but now we find out what type of character we got and how guys keep on fighting through the rest of the season.”

Sounds like the evaluation process for 2013 is well under way.

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Brad Biggs covers the Bears for the Chicago Tribune