SHADES OF RED: Shanahan Era Comes to an End; Redskins Ponder Future

By Brian Smith Shades of Red D.C

With an abysmal 3-13 season finally at an end, the fan base can let out a sigh of relief. No more painful Sundays. No more getting a glimmer of hope and belief, only to be let down by bad coaching and bad play. No more wondering when the next story will be leaked about RG3 and Mike Shanahan. No more questions. No more. And with the final regular season game played, we finally have a bit of clarity on the future of head coach Mike Shanahan and the Washington Redskins.  Quite simply... there is none.

Monday morning Daniel Snyder and the Skins organization gave Mike Shanahan the news. He would no longer be the head coach. Furthermore, the staff would not be retained. According to Bruce Allen, the decision was made following the Redskins loss to the Dallas Cowboys. However, Allen and Snyder still felt that it was most important  to win the game against the Giants the following week. And they believed that Mike Shanahan and his staff gave them the best chance to do that.

So was relieving Mike Shanahan of his duties the right decision? Should it have been done earlier? Is he really to blame for the faults of the Redskins this season? There are a lot of questions surrounding the decision for change and rightfully so. Only the future holds the true answer, but what has happened over the past couple of months says a lot. Who is truly to blame for the lost season of the Skins? If you ask me, it is only fair to place the blame solely on the head coach. I do not blame Danny Espinosa for not being able to hit the side of a barn, I don't blame Jan Vessely for being the NBA's worst jump shooter and I don't blame RG3 for being back in the game when he was obviously injured. It's the organization and the head coach who put the players in the position they were in. Can we really be upset at an offensive line built to run block when they are inefficient at pass blocking?  Do you think Joshua Morgan is at fault for being brought in as a free agent and basically being benched? Same thing with Fred Davis. It comes down to the fact that the head coach makes the decision of who to plug in and where. Shanahan decided who played and who didn't. If RG3 (a rookie,) was able to tell the coach he was going back into the Skins/Seahawks game, after he was obviously hurt, then that's an issue in itself.

A lot of people are also asking why Mike Shanahan was kept around so long? Why not let him go earlier and get a head start on the coaching carousel? The Houston Texans respectfully let go of their head coach during the season, (who for the record was more beloved to Houston then Shanahan was to DC) and have been interviewing coaches since. If Snyder and Allen had realized how truly awful the situation the team was in was, why not make the move earlier and get your team's name out there to try to lure in some big names like Bill Cowher or maybe Jon Gruden. Those two guys may not want to come back and coach and if they did, why on earth would they come here?!

Bruce Allen claims that with the nucleus they have intact and with the high-profile of the Redskins organization, this job is an attractive one to many different coaching suitors. Really? With the quarterback seemingly out of control, a defense that can't get out of its own way and an owner that just can't get things right why would this job be appealing to any coach? As far as I'm concerned the Redskins are far behind the ball already, while only being one day removed from the regular season. The question now becomes, what's next? Do you bring in another veteran coach with a respectable resume? Or do you go the young route that other teams are going and hand pick a coach from college? I would love to see a defensive coach hired to restore order on the defense, while keeping a lot of the same running principles that have already been established. A good defense with a power running game? That sounds like Redskins teams that have had success in the past.

With the fact that Dan Snyder has had six head coaches in his tenure, who's to say this will be any different? Are we to assume that just because we have RG3 we can bring in someone like a Chip Kelly and all of a sudden we're back on the map? I would assume no. If anyone is expecting anything besides another rebuild and grooming of RG3 for the future, you might be solely disappointed. However if they can hire a coach that can instill discipline, fundamental football and a defense that actually has a backbone, I believe that the core of the team can be successful.

Regardless of what you think about Shanahan being let go, it had to happen. Something had to change, something drastic. With all of the turmoil between RG3 and the coach, it was only a matter of time before something went down. Early on, I was on the record as saying keep Shanahan for one more year. Let him and RG3 work on the relationship over the offseason and continue building what they started. But as the season went on, and the losses piled up, I changed my tune. There was no other choice besides letting him go. Shanahan had lost his locker room and it had to be done. Despite what the players said and how Shanahan portrayed it, there was no fight left in the team. That goes on the head coach. The future of the Redskins is up in the air right now, and we most likely won't have any news on the hiring of a new head coach for some time. Sadly, this isn't hard to believe. This is what we're used to, and low and behold, we keep on buying into the same old thing. I for one know that at the beginning of next year, that same excitement and hope will be inside of me. I'll turn on the TV for that first game of the season expecting a win and a completely different team. And that my friends...  is the plight of being a Redskins fan.