Tag: Mike and Kyle Shanahan

Former Washington coach in trouble?

Is 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan really on the hot seat?

A former Washington Redskins offensive coordinator is said to be on the hot seat.

Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks drove down the field and, in the game’s final seconds, defeated the San Francisco 49ers, dropping the 49ers to 5-5 this season.

A couple of hours later, Grant Cohn, publisher of 49ers on SI, tweeted, “If the 49ers miss the playoffs, they should fire Kyle Shanahan. Period.”

Twitter was ablaze on Sunday evening, as 49er fans declared their disappointment with this year’s team in general. In particular, many voicing they wouldn’t mind if Shanahan was not San Francisco’s coach next season. That was putting it nicely, by the way.

Many are tweeting things they should not, being mean-spirited, unfair, and frankly hateful towards Shanahan. Yes, they are exercising their First Amendment right to say what they think. However, aren’t they also revealing how unfair and unkind they are as people?

Yes, the 49ers are struggling, and yes, injuries have been a major issue. They are a reality.

If Shanahan’s 2024 team does not make the playoffs, there will be changes made. However, that doesn’t mean necessarily the change made will be the head coach. They could choose to make personnel changes.

And yes, they could fire Kyle Shanahan. However, the 49ers could still win the NFC West, where the Cardinals lead at 6-4 and the 49ers, Rams and Seahawks are tied at 5-5.

Shanahan was the Redskins’ offensive coordinator during the 2010-2013 seasons. He was subsequently fired along with head coach Mike Shanahan, Matt LaFleur, and others after a horrible 3-13 2013 season, when Robert Griffin had refused to run the offense that Kyle had designed for him in 2012, bringing Griffin his lone season of NFL success.

Shanahan was the Houston Texans’ offensive coordinator for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. After Washington, he was the offensive coordinator for the Browns in 2014 and the Falcons in 2015 and 2016 before becoming the 49ers’ head coach for the 2017 season.

Countdown to the end of the Commanders Daniel Snyder era

The countdown has officially begun.

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The final ten-day countdown has begun.

NFL owners will meet on July 20 for a scheduled gathering where they will vote for the affirmation of the sale of the Washington Commanders from Daniel and Tanya Snyder to a multitude of owners headed by Josh Harris.

Snyder took over ownership of the Washington NFL franchise in 1999, and 2022 was his last season of ownership. In a surprise move last fall, Snyder suddenly was going to look into selling the once-proud and successful franchise.

When Snyder did not show up for the Sonny Jurgensen jersey being retired, and Snyder had his office in Ashburn cleaned out before the final game, it was confirmed, Snyder really was moving on.

There have been plenty of bad moves by Snyder over the years, and Commanders Wire has chronicled many.

He will be criticized — and heavily. There is no question much of that is deserved. It was a bad ending for Charley Casserly, Norv Turner, Marty Schottenheimer, Steve Spurrier.

It was Snyder who, for whatever reason, hired Jim Zorn as offensive coordinator, dooming Snyder’s search for a head coach. No one wanting the job, Snyder ended up elevating Zorn to head coach, though he had yet to be an NFL coordinator. It was embarrassing.

He sided with an immature quarterback over a great offensive coaching staff, and when the quarterback couldn’t develop into an NFL pocket passer, Snyder then fired the head coach. Seven years later, he forced his football people to draft another immature quarterback. Again it failed, and backfired.

He and Bruce Allen were so smug as a pair it was harmful to the organization. They certainly mishandled Kirk Cousins, and the franchise has yet to have a winning record since the quarterback was Cousins.

Snyder did, however, bring back Joe Gibbs in his greatest achievement as owner. Gibbs had a heart for the franchise, hated seeing the team struggle, and risked so much of his history and reputation in returning. Yet, Gibbs’s leadership was indeed masterful as the team rebounded to earn two playoff births in his last three seasons.

The team has not won a playoff game since Gibbs 2.0.

In the end, the default for most will be to absolutely demonize Snyder. No, he was not successful. But no, he was not entirely responsible for all of the dysfunction from the business side of operations we have witnessed the last few years either.

It’s true… everything rises and falls on leadership.

Looking back at Washington’s 2012 run to the playoffs

We look back at that run to the playoffs in 2012. What a fun season.

It seems hard to believe but it has been ten years since the 2012 team stormed down the home stretch to win the NFC East.

Washington (3-6) had seemingly fallen out of playoff contention. All that was missing was the Redskins being mathematically eliminated.

The bye week could not have come at a better time. The Shanahan’s Mike (head coach) and son Kyle (offensive coordinator) made whatever adjustments were needed, because Washington came out and destroyed the Eagles 31-6.

On Thanksgiving Day the offense raced out to a 28-3 halftime lead and the team held on for a 38-28 win over Dallas. Next was a Monday Night Football contest at RFK where huge luck appeared to fall on Washington. Robert Griffin fumbled, but the ball bounced right up to receiver Josh Morgan who ran it in 13 yards for a touchdown. Washington beat the Giants 17-16, and were .500 at 6-6.

Griffin was then injured against the Ravens when he once again did not slide as the Shanahans repeatedly had instructed him. Kirk Cousins connected with Pierre Garcon in the last minute, ran the two point conversion and Washington (7-6) won in overtime when Richard Crawford made the punt return of his career.

Griffin being out for the Browns game, Cousins passed for 329 yards and two touchdowns as the Redskins won in Cleveland 38-21, raising their record to 8-6.

In Philadelphia, Griffin returned (though noticeably ailing) but played courageously, going 16 for 24, 198 yards and two touchdowns in a 27-20 win over the Eagles. Washington was 9-6 headed to the season finale at RFK against the Cowboys for the NFC East title.

The running game would be nothing short of phenomenal, running 42 times for 274 yards, led by Alfred Morris who enjoyed his best game in the NFL, running 33 times for 200 yards. Griffin, still ailing, managed to run amazingly for 63 yards in only six carries, including a 10-yard touchdown run in the 28-18 win over the Cowboys.

Washington had won their last seven consecutive games, finishing 10-6, atop the NFC East.

In the playoff game the offense again seemed so precisely planned, scoring quickly, gaining a 14-0 lead. But Griffin tweaked his knee and was visibly worse, limited even more.

Griffin would stay in the game much too long limping around. Everyone could see, he was not going to be able to contribute anything else. Finally, the rookie of the year from Baylor further injured the knee, ending his day.

He too had been guilty in the entire drama, being overheard on the sideline informing tackle Trent Williams he indeed was injured, but not to say anything. Sadly between Mike Shanahan, James Andrews and Griffin there was more than enough blame to go around.

Cousins this time when entering the game was ineffective. The offense was shut out the final three quarters for a 24-14 defeat to Seattle.

It had been a magical seven-game run, and what is most often overlooked is kicker Kai Forbath was a major contributor. Being picked up in October, Forbath then connected on his first 17 attempted field goals, a new NFL record.

Ten years ago the 2012 Washington Redskins were certainly not a great team. However, they certainly had a fascinating and exciting seven-game winning streak to finish the season.

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