Perhaps it is time for some final reflections.
This site has now been around for two firings of Mike Shanahan. I doubt it will be around for a third. In the eight years since I put this website up Mike Shanahan drove the Denver Broncos into the ground, was fired, and then went to Washington and squandered whatever legacy he had left.
There is an emerging narrative that the problem with this Redskins team was its owner, Daniel Snyder. This morning on Denver talk radio I heard a local host make the claim that the problem with Mike Shanahan's career was that he worked for two "crazy owners" outside of Denver in Snyder and Oakland's Al Davis.
Of course, the truth is that Mike Shanahan caught lightning in a bottle when he returned to Denver and won two Super Bowls with John Elway. After Elway retired, Shanahan's record as a head coach, in both Denver and Washington, was as pathetic as it was in Oakland.
Shanahan is a narcissist and places himself above the team and its players. This is apparent in his reckless behavior with RGIII, his lack of loyalty to players like Jake Plummer, his lack of respect for his superiors like Dan Reeves and Daniel Snyder, and his constant nepotism and cronyism.
I'd like to suggest the following about head coaches in the NFL.
1) Players should mean more than coaches and deserve more fan loyalty and respect than coaches.
2) Coaches are more likely to subtract from a team's talent level than they are to add to it, especially if that coach has total control over an organization.
3) Reputation is meaningless and driven by media narratives that have little basis in reality.
4) Re-hiring coaches like Shanahan is harmful to the game and leads to the stagnation of franchises.
Best,
Jacob
