Many scoffed when he was first hired about how he had no experience as an offensive coordinator and felt that he had no business making the jump straight to head coach. They mocked Snyder for making such a move, but pretended like it was unprecedented. Andy Reid made the jump from QB Coach to Head Coach, and the Eagles have been a playoff team for over a decade now.

Steve Mariucci is another example of a coach who skipped the offensive coordinator position and at the time of Zorn’s hiring was a candidate for the ‘Skins head coaching position.

What do Reid, Mariucci and Zorn all have in common? Mike Holmgren.

Much like Bill Walsh, and Don Coryell; Holmgren has bred many of the leagues finer head coaches at one time or another.

So, in Zorn, you have a former NFL Quarterback, who has been working under Mike Holmgren as a Quarterbacks Coach, the thought that maybe, just maybe he becomes the next Andy Reid wasn’t exactly far-fetched.

Hindsight is always 20/20, and as it turns out, Zorn is not a good play-caller. Certainly, many are patting themselves on the back right now saying “I told you so…” and they did, but with the amount of people second guessing everything that the Redskins do, you are bound to have those who can say “I told you so” to anything negative that happens with this team.

Many people have come close to throwing their shoulder out of joint patting themselves on the back about how they were right that Jason Taylor would be a bust; but none of them expected that the man would suffer a freak medical condition that would leave him injured for nearly half the season.

With Zorn, it’s different. Many people said Zorn wouldn’t have experience calling plays because he was never an offensive coordinator. Those people were correct, but nobody would say anything about how they were wrong if Zorn had been marching this team to it’s second consecutive play-off berth as opposed to cleaning out his desk after two abysmal seasons.

Everyone knew going in that Zorn was a risk because he had never had the experience of being an offensive coordinator. The man had an NFL pedigree that couldn’t be ignored, and all things considered, I’m still scratching my head as to how a man with that many years experience in this league could not grasp the basic fundamentals of the game when it came to play-calling.

Anybody that thinks it was not the play-calling needs to explain why the team went from averaging 13 points a game under Zorn; averaged 21 points per game under Sherm Lewis’ play-calling (not including these last three games where the team had obviously given up).

Zorn’s pending termination was one of the worst kept secrets in the league, and for most of this season we heard from pundits and commentators about how Zorn was being mistreated by the Redskins. None of them could show why Zorn should be given more credibility, or even why he should keep his job past this year, but they all painted Zorn to look like a battered spouse.

A couple of weeks ago, Jay Glazer reported about how he had heard the team made Zorn sit in on interviews with potential candidates to take over his job. “They made him watch” said Glazer who was clearly painting the Redskins front office as the bad guys and suddenly the Fox NFL pregame show became Hands Across America for Jim Zorn. They talked about the poise and character he showed during this the most difficult of times for him.

Yet nowhere did anyone admit that Jim Zorn wasn’t cutting it as the head coach. Nowhere did they talk about how poorly this team had performed since starting out 6-2 in his first year. They finished that year 2-6 and had gone 2-4 versus a series of teams that had not won a game all season until they played his team.

The Redskins will get the fourth overall pick in the draft, and have lost to two of the three teams ahead of them (St. Louis and Detroit).

They praised Jim Zorn for his poise and felt sorry for him, but failed to recognize or even acknowledge that Zorn was a grown man, and if he felt the team was doing him wrong, could find the door out if he wanted to. Zorn failed to recognize his role in the Redskins’ futility. Even after the team began to perform better on the field, he still whined about how play-calling was “the favorite part of his job” that had been stripped away from him.

I give Zorn little credit for “sticking it out.” It wasn’t like the man wasn’t getting paid. Even if he had quit mid-season, things wouldn’t have necessarily improved, but really, could they have gotten much worse?

The fact is that the winds of change, they are a-blowin’. Vinny Cerrato’s “resignation” has paved the way for a new day in the Redskins’ front office. If the team had won out it’s last three games; then Bruce Allen’s job would have been made more difficult. Seeing as how clearly the coaches and many of the players had given up, it only makes his job easier this offseason.

With Allen will come a fresh perspective; one without loyalties to favorite players or coaches. Zorn’s head is already rolling, expect more to come.

At the end of the day, I still say Zorn was worth the risk. It was a gamble, and we lost. That’s why it’s called gambling. It’ll be interesting to see what happens next.

No… it has nothing to do with the growing realization that this season needs to be spoken of in the past tense.

While painful, it is not about the likely loss of one of the best LT’s to the potential of a spinal injury.

Chris Cooley will be fine… so, no, not that either.

It’s the growing realization that Snyder REALLY doesn’t get it. That his minions have him so isolated that, not only is he not functioning as a competent owner, but he doesn’t even know that he has completely lost the fan base. Snyder is obviously willing to spend the money. He obviously wants to win so badly he can taste it. Yet, he remains prisoner to the simple fact that he is not a football man. He must depend upon “football men” for their insights and judgements. Sooo… what about his “football man”?

Snyder built his millions through his marketing skill. Who the hell thought that it would be a good idea to play petty games with the faithful’s ability to express themselves at FedEx? Is that the mark of a marketing mind, Mr Snyder? Do marketing geniuses truly make their millions by infuriating their customer base? Who knew???

Who is advising you that further insulting the fans with clearly suspect lines about concern for fan safety is an effective means of explaning your operation’s cynical effort to suppress fan expressions of anger? Ummm… did it work, Mr Snyder?

So, now you have the flames of fan dissent stoked up. People are angry, Mr Snyder, and it isn’t getting any better.

But it’s nothing compared to what will happen if there are no major changes in the front office at Redskins Park. There is a palpable sense that Dan Snyder doesn’t view Vinnie as part of the problem. We can see it in the way Cerrato continues to peddle his ludicrous “we gave Zorn a team that had playoff portential” pap. He remains confident… sure of himself… unconcerned. There are two possiblities, here… either he completely delusional, or he is feeling very secure, because you have given him reason.

Not good. Look, even if it were true that Cerrato is blameless (funny, huh?), he is still “fruit of the poisoned tree”… damaged goods.

If he doesn’t go, if there aren’t substantial changes, if Snyder doesn’t give us reason for real hope… not the superficial promises and flash in the pan expenditures of the past… REAL hope… there will be a fan revolt. Here’s the thing, Mr. Snyder… you may own the team…

But it belongs to us… are you worthy of being the caretaker of our team? Not looking good. We are officially a source of jokes. The sad fans of our NFC East rivals smile at our good fortune, and weep at the damage done to the rivalrys of old. The rich history of the Redskins cannot possibly absorb the insults being visited as a result of the buffoonery of this season’s collapse. No longer does the football world look at the Redskins, and feel respect. More often than not, they feel pity. They feel sadness. Some even feel contempt. They see a hole in the great legacy. You don’t have to look or listen hard to find it. It’s there. It’s all over.

We are fast approaching the point where the management is painting the team into a corner. This WILL have an effect on the team’s ability to recruit potential coaches… While Gruden sounded like he was auditioning for the job during the Monday night broadcast of the debacle against the Eagles, does anyone really believe that he would be happy working for another hands on owner? He is quite candid, and very emotional… Snyder would know exactly what he thinks… all the time. I don’t see Mr Snyder being happy with that, either. Mike Holmgren was astonishingly candid regarding his opinion of how Zorn has been treated by the team… and it does not bode well for his candidacy… Cower seemed to find suggestions that his name should be in the running to be laughable. I don’t see this situation getting any better anytime soon. Honestly… does the owner? What is he going to do about it? I haven’t seen a hint of damage control. It may not be possible to convince a solid GM or Coach to come here. Respect, once lost, is very difficult to regain.

There is a hole in my heart, Mr Snyder. Thousands of us, Redskins fans, share that pain. You broke it. You fix it. You, and your friends, have just really screwed this up. Stop sending out your messengers, seeking to blame the Post, reporters with an agenda, fans with an agenda… bloggers with an agenda… Dude… the Post’s agenda has been there for most of a decade. We saw that. You got the benefit of the doubt… for years. You didn’t loose most of the rest of us until this year. No one to blame but you.

Clean it up, and make it work again. Your ownership legacy is not beyond salvaging… yet. You must clean house on the football side. Find a competent General Manager (COUGH! Chris Polian COUGH!), with a solid NFL pedigree. Give that person the reins. Let them rebuild the football operation. Bring back the respect. It will hurt. There will be changes that some of us don’t want to see. There will be changes that some of us will celebrate. It must be that way. It’s just how it is.

I just don’t have any confidence that Mr Snyder will figure this out. None. He is, whether he knows it or not, poisoning the well.