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Washington coach Ron Rivera completed his second season as the franchise’s head coach Sunday.
The thought occurred to me, since I have been following this team in my childhood, how have other Washington coaches produced in their first two seasons coaching this franchise?
1971: George Allen 9-4-1 regular season; wildcard 4th seed. In his 1972 season, Washington won NFC East Title at 11-3, the number one seed, a 26-3 NFC Championship win over defending Super Bowl Champion Dallas and a trip to Super Bowl VII where they lost 14-7 to the 17-0 Miami Dolphins.
1978: Jack Pardee started 6-0, but faded, finishing 8-8, and his 1979 team finished 10-6, but failed to make a top-four spot for the playoffs.
1981: Enter Joe Jackson Gibbs, who lost his first five games, before closing 8-3 to finish 8-8. His second season Washington was 8-1, plus 4-0 in the playoffs, winning Super Bowl XVII 27-17 over Miami.
1994: Norv Turner was in a total rebuild situation going 3-13 and 6-10 in his first two seasons.
2002: Steve Spurrier’s two seasons 2002-03, Washington was 7-9 and 5-11. You thought it was worse, didn’t you? You see, that proves our standards and expectations were higher then.
2004: Joe Gibbs agreed to return in 2004 going 6-10 and then 10-6 in 2005 with a playoff win at Tampa.
2008: Jim Zorn opened 6-2 in 2008, but then the team finished 8-8, followed by a 4-12 2009 and he was fired.
2010: Mike Shanahan’s first two teams were 6-10 and 5-11.
2014: Jay Gruden after a 4-12 first season won the NFC East at 9-7 in 2015.
2020: Ron Rivera followed a disastrous 2019 when Washington was 3-13, fired Jay Gruden and finished the season with interim coach Bill Callahan. Rivera battled his own cancer, endured the gruesome treatments, yet Washington won the weak NFC East in 2020 at 7-9. In 2021, Washington started 2-6, won four straight then lost four straight to division rivals Dallas and Philadelphia, finishing 7-10.