D.C. Examiner: Zorn's job in jeopardy? (not so fast he's coming back)

Well let's be clear then that you're paraphrasing here because I'm not saying under any circumstances. I'm just saying that I think it's in the best interests of the organization to allow Zorn to battle through this. And show that he can battle through this. And with this swoon happening so late in the season it may be tough to fix this in just a few weeks. Particularly when some of the answers probably lie in getting new players on the field and new assistant coaches on the sidelines. I just think that if Zorn is so quickly dismissed then what sort of message does that send on down to the players about faith in them to work through adversity and about patience in building a long-term consistent winning franchise.

I was pretty adamant last off-season that it didn't matter that his staff for all intents and purposes was put together before Zorn was hired as head coach. That other teams (see the Dolphins) had done something similar. But I'm rethinking that. I think that maybe part of the disconnect is you still have a lot of Gibbs' guys in the locker room and that may not be entirely fair to Zorn.

Look, I wasn't the biggest fan of selecting Zorn in the first place as head coach. It was a bit of a head scratcher to me. He has a lot to learn about being a head coach-and we should have expected that-and I think he deserves at least a little more time to learn. I will be very interested to see how he handles the next three weeks.


Nice post. If we fire a head coach who goes 7-9 [worst case scenario] in his first season, when he was forced to inherit coaches and a starting QB: then we are sending a message to our players and the NFL that we have absolutely no patience. We are telling everyone that the management has no interest in building a new program. That nothing has been learned since Shottenheimer was fired.


This is a "the sky is falling" article. Zorn will get 3 years as the coach, as a minimum - unless we have a season where we lose less than 3 games.

I honestly think Zorn is gone. When you make Portis mad the FO gets pissed. He then lost 4 pretty winnable games. You never know about Synder and his decision making and thats what should scare me if I'm Zorn.

Well let's be clear then that you're paraphrasing here because I'm not saying under any circumstances. I'm just saying that I think it's in the best interests of the organization to allow Zorn to battle through this. And show that he can battle through this. And with this swoon happening so late in the season it may be tough to fix this in just a few weeks. Particularly when some of the answers probably lie in getting new players on the field and new assistant coaches on the sidelines. I just think that if Zorn is so quickly dismissed then what sort of message does that send on down to the players about faith in them to work through adversity and about patience in building a long-term consistent winning franchise.

I was pretty adamant last off-season that it didn't matter that his staff for all intents and purposes was put together before Zorn was hired as head coach. That other teams (see the Dolphins) had done something similar. But I'm rethinking that. I think that maybe part of the disconnect is you still have a lot of Gibbs' guys in the locker room and that may not be entirely fair to Zorn.

Look, I wasn't the biggest fan of selecting Zorn in the first place as head coach. It was a bit of a head scratcher to me. He has a lot to learn about being a head coach-and we should have expected that-and I think he deserves at least a little more time to learn. I will be very interested to see how he handles the next three weeks.

Fair points, and I didn't mean to put words in your mouth. One bone to pick though. I do agree that it bears watching how he handles this crisis over the next three weeks. But I don't think it's a matter of him showing that he can learn and work his way through this, I think it's a matter of him revealing his true character and working his way through it.

What he's about to deal with is not something you can learn. Bringing men together and uniting them toward a common goal, getting them to play hard and inspired for you is not a skill you can get better at. You either have it or you don't.

Either Zorn has the leadership abilities and pulls this team together in the home stretch, or he doesn't and the locker room remains a mess the rest of the way. Time will tell. But if we lose these three games and this locker room is still a wreck at season's end, then I've seen all I need to see. It will prove to me he lacks the leadership skills of a Joe Gibbs, Bill Parcells, John Gruden, Mike Holmgren, or Bill Cowher. I don't think you can learn how to get men to respect you and play for you - especially if you've already truly lost their respect to begin with.

Yes it would be horrible to tear everything down yet again. It would stunt Campbell and set back our long term planning yet again. But if the head coach lacks the leadership skill set, then I'd rather tear it all down and get started trying to build it back up again. I've seen a team hang onto a coach with no leadership skills before - I absolutely don't want a repeat of the Turner era.

So let's hope Zorn pulls this team together. Despite the pessimistic tone of my post, I am optimistic that Zorn can do this. It starts with the Bengals.

Nice post. If we fire a head coach who goes 7-9 [worst case scenario] in his first season, when he was forced to inherit coaches and a starting QB: then we are sending a message to our players and the NFL that we have absolutely no patience. We are telling everyone that the management has no interest in building a new program. That nothing has been learned since Shottenheimer was fired.


This is a "the sky is falling" article. Zorn will get 3 years as the coach, as a minimum - unless we have a season where we lose less than 3 games.

But did management really have interest in "building a new program" in the first place? I mean they kept the defense, kept the same rushing attack, kept nearly all the starters, traded picks for an aging Jason Taylor...

It seems to me they were just trying to build off what Joe Gibbs had already built. If the coach is incapable of carrying Gibbs' leadership torch, then I think their intention is (and should be) to get someone who can.

Fair points, and I didn't mean to put words in your mouth. One bone to pick though. I do agree that it bears watching how he handles this crisis over the next three weeks. But I don't think it's a matter of him showing that he can learn and work his way through this, I think it's a matter of him revealing his true character and working his way through it.

What he's about to deal with is not something you can learn. Bringing men together and uniting them toward a common goal, getting them to play hard and inspired for you is not a skill you can get better at. You either have it or you don't.

Either Zorn has the leadership abilities and pulls this team together in the home stretch, or he doesn't and the locker room remains a mess the rest of the way. Time will tell. But if we lose these three games and this locker room is still a wreck at season's end, then I've seen all I need to see. It will prove to me he lacks the leadership skills of a Joe Gibbs, Bill Parcells, John Gruden, Mike Holmgren, or Bill Cowher. I don't think you can learn how to get men to respect you and play for you - especially if you've already truly lost their respect to begin with.

Yes it would be horrible to tear everything down yet again. It would stunt Campbell and set back our long term planning yet again. But if the head coach lacks the leadership skill set, then I'd rather tear it all down and get started trying to build it back up again. I've seen a team hang onto a coach with no leadership skills before - I absolutely don't want a repeat of the Turner era.

So let's hope Zorn pulls this team together. Despite the pessimistic tone of my post, I am optimistic that Zorn can do this. It starts with the Bengals.

I can buy that. I mean it may be that he's just not cut out to be more than an Xs and Os coordinator. We shall see

That one play definitely was unbelievable. How in the world do you send in the backup center to play LT and leave him on an island against a fierce pass rush? That just blew my mind.

This is the kind of stuff that is going to happen to a rookie HC who has never even been a coordinator before, who has not only taken on the role of HC, but also OC and QB coach. I think he's got too much on his plate.

I've seen a few posts in this thread, from SS and skinsfan69 in particular, stating unequivocally (and I'm paraphrasing here) that you don't get rid of Zorn after one season under any circumstances.

I could not disagree with you more.

If Zorn guides this team to wins against the Bengals and Niners, finishing at 9-7, then he certainly deserves to keep his job. I want to make that very clear first and foremost.

But if we drop all 3 remaining games? Lose to the Bengals and the 49ers? Collapse down the stretch? Start to lose the locker room? Finish 7-9 after making the playoffs last year while keeping the same defense and the same running game? No thank you, that's ineffective leadership.

Leadership positions are not the kind where you need to learn on the job. You either have a clue how to lead men or you don't. Offensive schemes, sure, they take time. But not leadership. You don't lose the locker room if you're a good leader.

But should offensive schemes even take all that long when all you have to do is install a passing offense? I'm willing to give Zorn two years to produce a passing offense worth a darn, a la Matt Hasselbeck. But he better get this locker room back in a hurry, or all the offensive scheming in the world won't matter. If you can't lead men then you can't be a head coach in the NFL.

Zorn needs to stop saying things like "we just didn't execute" in the papers. If you keep selling your players out like that and deflect the criticisms of yourself, you're going to lose the players' respect.

I don't like kneejerk reactions applied to coaching changes, but there are times when waiting and being patient reaches the point of diminishing returns. Once we found out Spurrier couldn't lead men, we wanted him out and couldn't wait until it happened. Zorn is NOT at that point, but if he doesn't get the locker room back and beat the sorry ass Bengals and Niners, he might be.

Leader first, scheme second.If we set the Cleveland game as the benchmark for the start of our current consistent level of play, then we have beaten ALL of the teams we are supposed to beat since then. I still think St. Louis was a fluky game (I'm guessing we won't lose on a Guard fumble ever again).

People (and apparently, some players too) are getting driven up the wall because we don't have a quality victory since week 5. We are 0-4 against quality opponents in that time span. Which is disappointing yes, but does it really speak to a deeper problem in which I would expect the team to come out and underachieve against Cincinnati? I don't believe it does.

I think Zorn does have to keep the team playing hard here to keep his job, but he's kept them competitive to this point, I can't really fathom a result that causes Snyder to fire him.

I’m starting to think that maybe one of the reasons Gibbs used a more conservative Offense with max blocking schemes was because he had a more realistic assessment of the talent (or lack of it) on the O Line when it came to pass protection.

If that was the case, then in 4 years as not only HC but also team president, why did we not bring in more O-line talent through the draft and free agency?? You may be right I don't know, but if you are, it's further evidence of the ineptitude of our FO.

If we set the Cleveland game as the benchmark for the start of our current consistent level of play, then we have beaten ALL of the teams we are supposed to beat since then. I still think St. Louis was a fluky game (I'm guessing we won't lose on a Guard fumble ever again).

What a strange premise off which to build a logical argument. Why in the world would we set the Cleveland game as the benchmark? Given that we kept the same running game, defense, starting lineup, and assistant coaching staff, shouldn't last year's performance (9-7) be the benchmark?

People (and apparently, some players too) are getting driven up the wall because we don't have a quality victory since week 5. We are 0-4 against quality opponents in that time span. Which is disappointing yes, but does it really speak to a deeper problem in which I would expect the team to come out and underachieve against Cincinnati? I don't believe it does.

I don't believe so either. Beating Cincinnatti is expected. But if you lose this one, coach Zorn, the chatter will get much louder.

I think Zorn does have to keep the team playing hard here to keep his job, but he's kept them competitive to this point, I can't really fathom a result that causes Snyder to fire him.

I think he'd at least consider it if they go 7-9. But it's not worth worrying about until we see what happens over the final three games.

I don't think it is Snyder who needs to show he has patience, I think we as fans need to show we can disregard blatant fear/hate mongering and (probably) baseless rumors.
Zorn, or any 1st year coach that does not go 1-15, deserves a chance to re-group, and learn. Every great coach has had growing pains.