Redskins have fired coaches too

By Brian Hunsicker

Published: October 8, 2008

ASHBURN — The St. Louis Rams are at or very near the bottom of the NFL in every major offensive and defensive category; they’re 0-4 and used their bye week to replace their head coach. Jim Haslett makes his debut at FedEx Field on Sunday, taking over for Scott Linehan.
Linehan’s final gaffe was replacing Marc Bulger as the Rams’ starting quarterback and calling on Trent Green. But the results were no better: Buffalo scored 25 unanswered points in the second half to win, 31-14 — continuing St. Louis’ streak of allowing 30 or more points in each of its four games.
The job now falls to Haslett to pick up the pieces of a season that seems already lost. Can there be a tougher task as a coach? Haslett said yes; he was the head coach in New Orleans in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina struck, a trying time for both the Saints and the region.
But he knows this situation will also be challenging.
“I’m not sure what lies ahead for me,” Haslett said. “I’m just going to try to get these guys steered in the right direction, hopefully we can put a complete game together and maybe win a couple games here. That’s all, really, I can do.”
Eight years ago, the Washington Redskins went through the same situation. A five-game, midseason winning streak went by the wayside and the Redskins tumbled toward .500. With three games left, Norv Turner was fired and replaced by then-wide receivers coach Terry Robiskie.
Offensive tackles Jon Jansen and Chris Samuels are the only players from that 2000 squad that are still with the Redskins.
“It’s never a good situation,” Jansen said.
“It’s kind of tough. The whole time, you’ve been having, you know, pretty much one chief,” Samuels said. “And now you’ve got another chief. It’s pretty tough to deal with, but you’ve got to adjust and move on.”
Certain factions of the locker room may also have a preference for the coach that was let go, Jansen said. Some players may feel indebted to the former coach, particularly if that player got his break because of a decision by that coach.
Over the past 20 years, mid-season firings have tended to come in cycles. This year, the Rams ditched Linehan and the Oakland Raiders, after a protracted battle, fired Lane Kiffin. Linehan and Kiffin were on the hottest seats entering the season, and no other coach appears to be in imminent danger.
Prior to this season, coaches here and there have left or been fired during the season. That happened once in 2007, twice each in 2005 and 2004 and once each in 2003 and 2001.
Turner, now in San Diego, was one of the coaches caught up in the largest mid-season shift in the past two decades: the Redskins were one of four franchises to make in-season head coaching changes, along with Arizona, Cincinnati and Detroit. No other season in that span has had more than three.
Each case is different, too. Sometimes a move is made late in the season to signal that the following year will start fresh. If a firing happens in mid-season, it can be a last-resort move to keep the team moving forward. Occasionally, coaches resign for other reasons; but usually a move is made to shake up a moribund program. Each player may have a unique reaction to such a shakeup.
“As a veteran now, I may say that [it’s a sign that the season is lost]. As a young guy, I may look at it as the ownership trying to make that spark, not just on the field but in the locker room, in the meeting rooms,” Jansen said. “[To say,] ‘Hey, we still feel we have a chance. We’re going to make a change before it’s too late.’”
Redskins head coach Jim Zorn has gone through the experience twice as a player and a coach. In the strike-shortened 1982 season — Zorn’s last as a regular starter — the Seattle Seahawks started the season 0-2 before the players walked out. By the time they returned two months later, they had a new coach; Mike McCormack replaced Jack Patera halfway through the strike.
“If you notice what’s been going on around the league, the guys that have been let go have been let go at a bye week. At least you have a couple weeks to recover,” Zorn said. “We did the same thing. Jack Patera was fired in ’82 during the strike, and then we had an interim coach the rest of the season in Mike [McCormack].
“It was difficult. It’s never fun. If it gives you a lift, it’s kind of an oxymoron, because you’re disappointed it didn’t work out. We all liked Jack, but it spurs you on.”
After he broke into the NFL as an assistant coach, Zorn was on the Detroit Lions’ staff in 2000 when Bobby Ross abruptly resigned. Gary Moeller coached the final seven games of that season.
“That was disheartening as well,” Zorn said. “It’s never fun. Never.”