Jim Zorn was relived of his play calling duties halfway through the Redskins’ turbulent season. Today, he was relieved of the entirety of his duties by GM Bruce Allen because, as Allen stated, “The status quo is not acceptable” for the Washington fans or the Redskins organization. This announcement doesn’t come as a surprise for Zorn, who is just 12-20 SU as the head coach for Washington over the past two NFL football sports betting seasons.



While the Dan Snyder decade hasn’t exactly panned out as expected by the business tycoon, nobody is going to be hurt more by the shift to a seventh head coach in ten years more than Jason Campbell. In his four years as an NFL quarterback, Campbell has shown steady improvement and at 6-foot-5 and 230 pounds he has the prototypical build of a leading man. For his career he has a quarterback rating of 86.4 and has thrown for 10,860 yards, 55 touchdowns and 38 interceptions.

For the most part I wrote off Campbell as a likely job keeper after the 2009 season, but a midway burst of success completely changed my mind. In the past, J-Cam has looked lost on the field, and often times his indecisiveness led to chattering feet, costly picks and deceased drives on the field. This season, however, we began to see a different man under center. Most notably, a narrow overtime loss to the Saints where Campbell threw for 367 passing yards and 3 touchdowns proved that Campbell has the nuts to be a premier level talent. He played in every game this season, threw for over 250 yards five times and multiple touchdowns in seven games.

As most NFL analysts will tell you, there are two essential cores to maximizing talent. The first is an offensive line (duh) and the second is a consistent coaching staff. Guys like Trent Edwards in Buffalo may have the raw talent, but a lack of consistent mentors at the coaching level have derailed any hopeful progress. The same is happening to Jason Campbell.

So who’s waiting in the wings to replace Zorn? Retirement for NFL coaches is reaching Favre-like temptation. Mike Holmgren resigned in Seattle after last season, and has already taken up shop in Cleveland. Now Bill Cowher, Mike Shanahan and even Jon Gruden have come up as possible replacements to the axe destined coaching class of 2009. The Redskins are perhaps one of the most attractive destinations of any hapless NFL team. They have a quarterback showing real potential, a star studded defense and weapons in every facet of the game.

They also have an owner who has a seemingly bottomless pit of money in Dan Snyder, who is mainly known as the guy who has screwed up this franchise as opposed to being the mogul that made Six Flags the premier amusement park in the country. The majority of NFL owners are mega rich families, and the economy of the NFL has allowed owners to focus primarily on using their NFL team as a profit churning entity, as opposed to NBA owners who run major businesses and use their sports ownership as a cocktail party favor conversation starter.

The Redskins have obviously made an unreal amount of mistakes, but the finger is almost always pointed at Snyder who former Redskins running-back Riggins said had “a black heart”. Snyder, like many ego maniacs, needs to have himself attached to major decisions made by the team. Unlike other coaches and general managers who enjoy the freedom and liberty to do what they must to win games, the Redskins’ coaches have almost always been under fire by Snyder who is known as much for being impatient as he is for being a success in business.
All that being said, which coaching great would take the mantle under a guy like Snyder? Shanahan had full bore in Denver before he retired as would likely need that same type of environment with Snyder keeping his meddling to an absolute minimum. Both Bill Cowher and Jon Gruden are known for their hot tempers and their all-world control of team rosters. Neither would appreciate being undermined by an owner like Dan Snyder.
That was the fate handed to Jim Zorn, and now the former coach will be waiting in a long unemployment line for coaches in the NFL. The one thing that Snyder does have that other owners don’t is a penchant for spending money like Nicholas Cage’s former business manager. With an estimated worth of $1.3 billion, and a decade of football failure behind him, Snyder will spend whatever money he needs on a coach that can properly steer the Redskins in the right direction.
Mike Shanahan remains the clear cut favorite to land the job, but Gruden’s ties to Bruce Allen, who he served with in Tampa, make him a likely candidate as well. Almost half the teams in the NFL are trying to lure Bill Cowher but Tampa Bay and the Glazers seem to be front runners in that race. Whomever gets the job has an uphill battle that Zorn lost miserably. It doesn’t help that the Eagles, Giants and Cowboys are all going to be playoff competitors for at least the next three years. Jason Campbell and the rest of the Redskins players will wait just as anxiously as we are to see who fills the office in Washington.

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