While week five isn’t totally concluded in the NFL, we have our first head coach firing of 2019. Furthermore, the Washington Redskins have fired Jay Gruden on Monday morning. This is after an 0-5 start and a hapless loss at home to the New England Patriots on Sunday afternoon.
Indeed, the less famous Gruden brother struggled in his time in Washington. In six seasons, he finishes with a 35-49-1 record. Furthermore – Gruden had an idea this was coming – based on some quotes that followed Sunday’s loss.
Gruden mentioned returning to work to prepare for week six if his keycard still had access. Now, the keycard no longer has access.
Breaking: Jay Gruden has been fired by the Redskins, the team announced. https://t.co/zYs5whOBDa pic.twitter.com/sORBF2hZyc
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 7, 2019
Indeed and as per usual, the organization delivered an official statement.
“Through the first five games of the 2019 season, the team has clearly not performed up to expectations, and we all share in that responsibility,” the team said in a statement. “Moving forward we are committed to doing all that we can collectively as an organization to turn things around and give our Redskins fans and alumni a team they can be proud of in 2019 and beyond.”
Next, Washington team president Bruce Allen weighed in on why the change was made now.
“To make a decision like this is difficult but it was necessary. Our 0-5 start is not just disappointing, we had much different expectations for this beginning of the season,” Allen said. “We owe it to our fans, our millions of fans not just here in the great nation’s capital but across the world, the players, the coaches and their families to do everything we can to win.”
Washington plans to replace Gruden with a former NFL head coach in Bill Callahan. Currently, Callahan serves as the Washington offensive line coach. Remember, he took the Oakland Raiders to a Super Bowl when he lost to Tampa Bay; ironically coached by Gruden’s brother Jon.
Finally, this is a further sign of an organization that really needs stability. It’s been a long time since the Redskins were viewed as an organization on the right track. Recently they didn’t even know which quarterback to start, and had Joe Theismann calling them out in the media for possibly risking Dwayne Haskins’ future.
The Redskins need to regroup, and catch a few breaks to restore the proud tradition they had through the early nineties under Joe Gibbs.
