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Seven shy of the all-time record, the Lions' 19-game losing streak is finally, and mercifully, roadblocked by the Redskins.
Washington players were available to the media this morning on the heels of one of the worst losses in franchise history.
Some highlights from The Washington Times:
“We’re not even talking about the coach’s job security, you guys are,” veteran DE Phillip Daniels said. “I didn’t hear anything about Coach Zorn’s job after the game. I never thought he was in jeopardy. I just thought we had some situations where we could have made more plays and didn’t do it.”
CB Carlos Rogers said the Redskins are a team without an identity right now but said firing Zorn isn’t the right move.
“What’s that going to do? Make the team better? Who’s going to be the head coach?” Rogers said. "He has a lot of stuff on his plate to worry about and control this team. A lot of us are still here for him, I think.
“We don’t have an identity. I don’t know what we’re going to be on offense, I don’t know what we’re going to be on defense. Until we establish ourselves as a whole group, that’s when things will work out better for everybody.”
Some pretty telling comments from Carlos Rogers. Chris Cooley, on the other hand, is a company man:
“Coach Zorn is our coach,” Cooley said. "We have complete faith in what he’s doing, the scheme that we’re running and the way that we do things here. There’s nothing for me to say, anything about his job or his job security.
“He’s an outstanding coach. I think he’s a great guy and I enjoy playing football for him.”
Zorn is speaking to the media now. More updates to come with his comments.
SBN’s Skins blog Hogs Haven calls Sunday’s loss as bad as any in D.C. sports history, says they should “blow it up” by trading their talent for draft picks before calling for Russ Grimm, he of Hogs lore and current Cardinals assistant coach, to replace Zorn:
As Rick Snider wrote this morning, and I echo, bring in Russ Grimm. He is a proven winner and it’s the only move Snyder can make at this point to retain what fans he has left.
Grimm was on the Skins radar to succeed Joe Gibbs 2.0 and would be a fine option as the next head coach. Although Bill Cowher and Mike Shanahan would likely be better options.
The Washington Times’ Ryan O’Halloran says firing Zorn mid-season would be a logistical nightmare, making many of the same points we did this morning and coming to this conclusion:
The smart move for Snyder is to see how the season plays out and then make a decision. If the Decade Of Dan has taught him anything, it’s how teams can turn it around in-season. The 2001 Redskins started 0-5 and then won five straight games. Of course, Marty was still whacked.
O’Halloran, and the rest of the D.C. media, will get to speak with the players starting at 11 a.m. Hopefully that will yield more insight into the state of this team.
The early word following the Redskins disaster in Detroit was the Jim Zorn would not be fired. And this is to be expected — even the likes of Dan Snyder wouldn’t march into the locker room and fire the head coach minutes after a loss. But it also doesn’t mean Snyder & Co. won’t change their minds as this week of infinite sadness in Washington progresses.
To that point, as Chris Chase notes, the last time high-ranking sources within the organization were making claims about the future of the team’s head coaching position, they all turned out to be dead wrong.
Although Redskins fans wouldn’t mind if the "sources" are wrong this time around as well. At least, according to a poll on Redskins Insider:
Regardless of the fan clamoring and the media prying, it does seem extremely unlikely that Zorn will be fired this week — or anytime during the season. To do so would be completely surrendering the season. They can’t bring a new coach in externally mid-season and expect them to get any sort of offense established. Which leaves internal candidates as the only feasible options. Those candidates would likely be Stump Mitchell — the running backs coach who has been a head coach before … at Morgan State … a decade ago — or Sherman Smith — a long-time running backs coach himself who is in his second year as an NFL O.C. Not exactly the sexiest options, although when you lose to a team that was 0-19 since December ’07, your standards of sexy drop dramatically.
So, essentially, it boils down to this: If Snyder & Co. determine that Zorn’s version of the Redskins have hit rock-bottom, they should fire him … but, if they see any glimmer of hope left for this year, they cannot remove the head coach mid-season.
The front office will probably decide on option 2, after which the team will go 5-11 and Zorn will be fired on January 4th. 1991 never felt so far away.
ESPN's Adam Schefter is reporting that despite the disappointment in Redskins camp, Jim Zorn's not going anywhere:
Lions head coach Jim Schwartz spoke to NBC’s Bob Costas, and had this to say on today’s historic win:
“We had that monkey on our back. You know, the coaches knew, the players knew. We were still bearing the burden for 0-19, and we couldn’t get that monkey off our back.”
He continued:
On the meaning of this win:
We were in the locker room after the game, and players were celebrating, and it felt good. And I just told the players, hey this win is more than just about us. This is the city of Detroit, let’s get out of the locker room, and let’s share this win with our fans.
On the Redskins’ final drive:
We knew what we had to do, we were protecting a touchdown lead, and we knew we could give up yards as long as we don’t give up a touchdown.
On Matt Stafford:
He’s improved every single week. … He just needs to go out and play. From New Orleans to Minnesota he improved. Obviously he improved this week. Didn’t have a turnover which was big, and made a lot of plays down the field. He’s a gutsy player … and he’s going to be a good player for us.
With today’s loss to the Detroit Lions—and after the team was booed off the field last week after a win—the Redskins have officially spiraled into his disarray. Or, at least, that’s what you’d think listening to the Washington media. Dan Steinberg over at the DC Sports Bog collected some thoughts from personalities around the area:
Brian Mitchell on CSN’s Postgame Live: "They have a coach, a head coach who is very low key. He gives the little funny talks and he says things and he’s honest. Can he get his damn team to play football? I don’t think so."
Larry Michael, in the first half: After using the terms "things falling apart" and "disastrous" to describe the Redskins, he said this: "The Lions have dominated this game. It pains me to say that, but they’ve dominated this game."
And at least one person thinks it’s time for the Redskins to shake things up and fire head coach Jim Zorn. From Yahoo! Sports’ (and part time SBN contributor) Chris Chase:
Teams usually don’t quit in football, that’s more of an NBA thing thanks to guaranteed contracts and more of a revolving door practice in the coaching ranks. It sure looks like the Redskins did that today though. It’s hard not to blame them. When your coach single-handedly blows two important calls in a must-win game against the worst NFL team of the past quarter-century, how is one expected to stay motivated?
Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has a decision to make. He can keep a coach that he never wanted in the first place, thus alienating both players and fans alike. Or he can make the move he’ll inevitably make at the end of the season anyway and fire Jim Zorn. Unlike his head coach, I expect Snyder to choose wisely.
The players-quitting-on-coach is a popular refrain in sports, but rarely is that cliche trotted out in September. That trusted analysts like Chase would draw that conclusion speaks volumes: maybe the Redskins really have quit on Zorn. Santana Moss, for one, openly questioned Zorn’s decision to go for it on fourth down early in the first quarter.
Nothing’s set in stone, of course, and the Redskins still have a lot of football to play. But with the team sputtering and a crisis of confidence simmering, how much football does Zorn have left to coach?
*And if you don't have time to read Chase's entire article, this tweet just about sums it up:
To most football fans, the Lions’ win over the Redskins is little more than the end of a statistical curiosity. But to Lions fans — the diehard fans who have weathered a losing streak that has lasted nearly two years, and blog faithfully throughout — there’s nothing but happiness and relief. Here's the partial reaction from SB Nation's Lions blog, Pride of Detroit:
Coming into today, the last time the Lions won a game was on December 23, 2007, against the Chiefs. It had been 21 months, a winless season, one Matt Millen firing, and overall 19 losses since that last win. Honestly, I forgot what it felt like to celebrate a regular season Lions win because it had been so long.
[…] I can’t tell you how good it feels for the Lions to finally win, not only because it has been so long, but now the losing streak can be put in the rear-view mirror. No matter what happens the rest of the season, there won’t be a repeat of 0-16, the Lions will not break the record for the longest losing streak in NFL history anytime soon, and most importantly, Detroit has a chance to begin a winning streak next week against the Bears.
The Chiefs saving grace has been, well, at least the Lions are worse. You know, the 0-16 Lions? Unfortunately, today they beat the Redskins today which marks their third victory in the last 28 games.
Before today, the Detroit Lions most recently won a regular-season game on December 23, 2007. Today, after 19 consecutive losses, the streak finally ended.
Despite 341 passing yards from Jason Campbell, the Redskins made only two trips to the red zone, and were penalized for 97 yards. The Lions, meanwhile, balanced their passing and running games well. Matt Stafford threw for 241 yards and a touchdown, while running back Kevin Smith produced 101 yards from 16 carries.
Mercifully, the Lions' losing streak ended seven games shy of the record, held by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Jim Zorn Speaks: 'We're Getting Better'
Jim Zorn just wrapped up his Monday press conference. He made it through the entire thing without being fired. Here are some choice excerpts via Washington Post’s Rick Maese:
I’m not sure how going from barely beating the Rams at home to being dominated by the Lions equates to “getting better.”
Sep 28 12:47p by Chris Mottram - 1 comment