[JoeRedskin]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

I would put this at about 100% wrong, Gibbs team went 6-2 under Zorn, and that was without Gibbs input on the draft/FA. He could have made the team younger and made a more complete team.

I didn't say it was noble or a higher calling, not even sure what that means. He simply was exhausted from the emotional toll of a football season, and ST's death was the tipping point. (all that is my humble opinion of course)

Well, your opinion, his words and the opinions of others. - but, hey, let's not let facts get in the way of a good revisionist rant.

“I have never had a season or been around a team that has had to go through all of this,” Gibbs said in an interview last week. “It was hard on us, but it also made us — or me at least — think about our priorities.”

...

“To be in a hole, Sean, the brutal disappointments we had, I felt the team rallied at the end of the year,” Gibbs said Tuesday. “We’re in a position today as opposed to four years ago, bright things are ahead.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/sp...ml?%20Joe&_r=0

After that loss, the team was 5-7 and, combined with the timeout debacle, many veteran players privately expressed concern their coach no longer was capable of handling the job.

Defensive end Phillip Daniels said yesterday that he remembered speaking to one of his teammates that week, and both of them expressed worry about their coach's health. "He just looked so tired," Daniels said.
...

[A]fter the recent run, Gibbs seemed to feel better about the team's standing. The defense, a problem in 2006, had stabilized, the players bonded after Taylor's death and there was a hope around the team that it had identified its quarterback of the future in Jason Campbell.

"I know this: He would never want to leave an organization in disarray," said Brett Fuller, the team chaplain who spent a great deal of time with Gibbs, an evangelical Christian. "So us making the playoffs probably more than anything helped him make his decision."

Redskins' Gibbs Resigns As Coach

Then, of course, there is the opinion of that football know-nothing John Clayton:

He resigned because the job has taken its toll and he wants to spend more time with his family, especially his 2-year-old grandson Taylor, who was diagnosed with leukemia last year.
...

The 2007 season was a drain on Gibbs. Though successful in making the playoffs for the second time in three years, Gibbs and the entire organization paid an emotional price with the tragic death of Sean Taylor. Taylor, a former first-round pick, had a bumpy start in Washington because he was hardheaded and a little rebellious, but he matured into a great player and better person in 2007. Gibbs helped in that process.
...

Gibbs leaves the Redskins a much better team than the one he inherited. He assembled a top coaching staff. He appears to have found a quarterback in Campbell, and he built a strong running game with Clinton Portis. The defense, coached by coordinator Gregg Williams, is solid.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/column...ohn&id=3186258

Seemed to be other's opinions as well:

How much better off are the Redskins now than they were four years ago? The answer goes far deeper than the improvement from 5-11 under Steve Spurrier in 2003 to two brief playoff appearances. After Snyder's sequence of petulant coaching purges, Gibbs inherited an organization with almost zero cohesion, collective self-esteem or internal trust. Spurrier, the most casual and disengaged of NFL coaches, barely seemed to know all his players' first names, let alone worry about their character or ability to interact and lead. Gibbs rebuilt the team from the inside out, stressing personal qualities almost as much, at times, as raw athletic ability.

Thomas Boswell - In Touch With His Priorities