One of the reasons that Redskins fans have been so dismayed at the team’s recent five-game losing streak is that they have gotten the overriding sense that head coach Mike Shanahan, for all his accolades, doesn’t have a long term plan in place for this franchise.
You hear it again and again on DC sports talk radio: The fanbase has little faith that Shanahan actually knows what he’s doing, and they’re beginning to suspect that the Mastermind, like so many other coaches and players to pass through Redskin Park over the past decade, is using the team for his own personal golden parachute.
There is some reason to believe that Shanahan deserves a couple more years in charge of the Redskins.
Apart from his ghastly decisions at quarterback, the Redskins have been able to find worthy contributors via both the draft (Ryan Kerrigan) and free agency (Barry Cofield).
If the Skins had a real quarterback, there’s no way they would have folded this quickly. Shanahan will likely get a shot to at least draft and develop a QB of his own. Firing him means, yet again, that the Skins will have to go a wholesale change in leadership, a process always hindered by the prospect of Dan Snyder lurking in the background.
As much as Shanny has proved a fraud, that’s still an unpleasant prospect.
If you’ve followed the Redskins during the Snyder Reign Of Terror, you know that the Redskins owner (who is football’s answer to Martin Teal) is thin-skinned, arrogant, incompetent, irrational, and childishly vindictive. But if Snyder has one defining characteristic, it’s that he harbors a juvenile obsession with beating your Dallas Cowboys.
DC residents even refer to Cowboys games as “Dallas Week,” as if there will be some kind of bronze spitbucket awarded to the victor at the end of the game.
It is these Dallas games that feature Snyder at his most volatile.
And so while a rational observer would think that Snyder will give Shanny one or two more years (who would they even get to agree to replace him at this point?), it could be that a loss to Dallas will cause Snyder to get soused on Crown Royal and make yet another impulsive coaching change (rumors about Jon Gruden have already started).
Sports Connection
Connecting you to your favorite North Texas sports teams as well as sports news around the globe.
So savor the possibility, Cowboys fans. Not only would a win this week help you keep up with the Giants, but it could set in motion yet another disaster in DC.
