Antonio Pierce's burning ambition is to go to New Orleans. But he has no interest in Mardi Gras.

No, the only celebration Pierce wants to be a part of is Superbowl XXXVI.

But if he runs out at the Louisiana Superdome on February 3 then he and the Washington Redskins will have certainly done it the hard way.

The 6-7 ‘Skins made an art form of losing at the start of the season. At 0-5 they were giving the Detroit Lions a run for their money for title of the worst team in the country.

But a key play against the Carolina Panthers in October turned the year around and they and Pierce, son of Cleo Burrows of Southampton, now have an outside chance of extending their season.

Their start apart, this has been somewhat of a dream year for the 23-year-old rookie out of Arizona.

Not picked during the draft, the 6ft 1in linebacker was nevertheless offered deals by four teams, one of which was his eventual choice, Washington.

“I had options to go to the New York Giants, the Philadelphia Eagles or the (Cincinnati) Bengals,” he said. “(But Washington) was the right fit for me. They were looking for a younger player and the coach was fair about giving everybody a chance, he didn't care who you were or what your name was.”

That coach was, and despite the lopsided start still is, Marty Schottenheimer, who made his name at the Kansas City Chiefs.

“He always talks to me,” Pierce said. “He says he hasn't seen a lot of young players like myself as far as what I bring to the game - learning and picking up things well. He is always trying to give me pointers.

“We don't talk any more than anyone else, but he will mention things to me. If he sees something that I have done well he will mention it, if I do bad he will mention it.

“That is all you can want from a coach, to tell you the good and the bad.”

In those early days there must have been plenty of bad for Schottenheimer to talk about to his troops. But Pierce said he never lost faith in the coach.

“The guys were getting used to the system and we had a new coaching staff and everything,” he said explaining those early defeats. “It takes a while for guys to get on the same level and same page.

“I never thought they would fire him. I don't think it was the coach's fault, it is up to the players to make things happen. I think he has done a good job. He has been consistent and he has really stuck to his programme, regardless of whether we were winning or whether we were losing it was still the same.”

Pierce came on in the week two 37-0 loss at Green Bay and made his full debut in the 45-13 home defeat against the Chiefs.

He started again in the 23-9 loss at New York and the 9-7 defeat against Dallas.

“We were still positive,” he said of the mood in the locker room at that time. “We knew it would take time for us to click. We didn't want to be 0-5 but it happened that way.”

Then they clicked and all of a sudden the Redskins went from a team that could not get a victory to save their lives, to one that was winning for fun.

After the loss to a Dallas side renowned as poor themselves, Pierce and his teammates turned their season around with wins against the Panthers (17-14), Giants (35-21), Seattle Seahawks (27-14), Denver Broncos (17-10) and the Eagles (13-3).

“We just said ‘we have got to make it work'. Everybody was laughing at us at first and we had too many good players to be a laughing stock,” he said.

“(Linebacker) LaVar (Arrington) made a big play in the Carolina game and got the momentum going and we just fed off that for the five games that we won,” he said.

The Redskins train was halted at Dallas (20-14), got back on track at Arizona (20-10) and was derailed last time out against Philadelphia (20-6).

They now have a mathematical chance of making the final play-off spot. But to do so not only do they need to win their remaining three games against Chicago, New Orleans and Arizona, but they also need the four other teams vying for an extended term to slip up.

The Giants and Atlanta Falcons must lose one of their next three and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers must lose two of their three. If that were to happen then the only other threat, New Orleans, would lose out because Washington still have to play them and a loss would hand the advantage in a tie-break to the boys from the capital.

“We had a great opportunity to win the game last week,” said Pierce of the game against Philadelphia. “We played really good on defence against the Eagles, we really shut down a lot of things they did. They might have scored those points but we really shut them down.

“(But) every team in the NFL is good, every weekend you have to go out and battle. We expect to win every game that we go out to play in, but you know sometimes things don't happen the way you want them to.”

With that game in the past, all Pierce's thoughts are centred on tomorrow's game against the Bears.

“A lot of guys ask you ‘is it a must win?' but every game is a must win,” he said of the clash against the surprise outfit from the Windy City who have already secured their play-off berth. “We are just going to go out there and this time we are going to try and get the job done.

“Last week we had a lot of good opportunities. This week we need to capitalise. When we get the ball to our offence they need to capitalise and when they (Chicago) have to punt we have to take advantage of that ourselves.

“I'm on special teams so we have got to really do well especially when you are playing at home, you've got to really do good.”

Pierce hopes Chicago will mentally still be celebrating when they meet at FedEx Field.

“We are playing a real good Bears team that have already clinched their play-offs so they are working for other things right now,” he said. “We just need to go out there, hope their minds are not on us and are on other things, and get a win.”

With linebacker Robert Jones moving to the middle following an injury to starter Kevin Mitchell, Pierce will start on the weak side.

“They are a running team and run a lot plays on the open side and that's the side I play on,” he said. “I will probably have a role in that and I'll just try and do my best job. I bring my own game to the table, we'll have to see what I can do and what they bring to me.”

Asked to shed some light on Schottenheimer's tactics, Pierce took the fifth.

“I really can't reveal things like that. You will just have to watch the game and see. I don't want to give anyone any hints,” he said.

Even though they turned a lame duck into a golden goose, Pierce said it will count for nothing if the Redskins are not celebrating tomorrow.

“It will be disappointing regardless. You always want to reach the play-offs. You don't want to be one of those teams that is looking on and watching everybody else play,” he said.

But if it does not happen this season it may not be long before the halcyon days of a decade or so ago are back.

“Apart from two or three players on defence we are a really young team and I think the future is bright for us,” said Pierce, who has a two year contract but would like to stay longer.

“We have got a lot of youth on this team. Next year we should have a lot guys coming back as well, depending on what happens, and I think our future is really bright.”