[The Huddle]

Originally Posted by irish

This organization is riddled with problems from top to bottom. Everyone is at fault from Danny & Gibbs down to the players. The sad fact is this organization is closer to being the Cards than it is to being a top NFL franchise.

Amen. Every year its the same story.

I know this isn't a popular opinion, but I think that if the 2007 Redskins do not make the playoffs, Joe Gibbs and his entire staff should be fired. The fifth year of his contract can be bought out- there’s no point in enduring this debacle past next season. At that point a GM would be brought in, the organization would be restructured before a new coach is hired, and we can start over yet again.

I have nothing but respect and admiration for Gibbs and what he's meant to this franchise, but that sort of sentiment is beside the point. At some point its got to stop mattering what you did 20 years ago. It doesn’t matter that you’re one of the most decent men the game has ever known, or that your players “fight their guts out”, or that many observers are willing to concede you’re still a great coach despite a growing body of evidence to the contrary.

At some point you either need to win, or shut up and go away. One more season like this and we will have reached that point.

Joe Gibbs is now three full seasons into his comeback and, with the exception of a brief, sudden surge near the end on 2005 that helped the team snag a wild card slot in the playoffs, Gibbs II has been one big fat disappointment. Come on, be honest- if, on the day of Gibbs’s return, someone had walked up to you and said that in three years Gibbs’s team would be no better off than Steve Spurrier’s second and final edition (5-11) you’d have laughed in their face. But that’s exactly what’s happened.

Yes, Gibbs did have the Redskins in the playoffs last year, but in retrospect that’s looking more and more like an anomaly- a plucky 5-6 team in a weak division that got hot for a month or so. Sure, it was nostalgic watching the way the running game carried the Skins down the stretch, but in retrospect was last year’s team really that good? Outside of the aforementioned 5 game winning streak, Washington is a flat-out sorry 16-27 the last three years. In addition to that one playoff appearance, they have two finishes in the division basement. If you’re still a believer, the last five weeks of the 2005 season make for a mighty flimsy hook to be hanging your hopes on.

One more year.