Zorn the Coach of the Future?

On Friday, Redskins' Vice President Vinny Cerrato announced on ESPN980 radio that "Jim Zorn is the head coach of the Washington Redskins and will be for the rest of this season, and hopefully into the future." This caused quite a stir among analysts many of whom declared this to be a strong vote of confidence for the organization and said it answered all questions for now. While it almost certainly guarantees that Zorn will remain the coach for the rest of the season, this was in not any kind of endorsement for the coach. Don't be fooled, Snyder will still be looking for blood come season's end.

There can be no doubt that Jim Zorn will be looking for a new job in the off season. The Redskins finished only 8-8 last season and have fallen to 2-4 this season by losing to three of the worst teams in the league. While Carolina has won one more game, Detroit and Kansas City have yet to beat any other team. The Redskins only two wins have come against the winless Buccaneers and Rams. While the offensive line is atrocious, this team has enough talent to challenge for a wild card spot, making their record that much more discouraging. This type of performance would be unacceptable in any city, except maybe Detroit, and with Daniel Snyder calling the shots, you can be sure he's not going to forgive and forget.

The Redskins' organization has shown how much trust they have in Zorn with the announcement earlier in the week that Sherman Lewis would be calling the plays from now on. As Zorn was brought in originally as the offensive coordinator, taking away play calling shows that the organization no longer trusts in his abilities. There have also been some unconfirmed reports that Snyder would have made the announcement himself but that he was worried that if he took any questions he would not be able to hold his tongue. Doesn't sound like a vote of confidence to me.

So why keep Zorn for the rest of the season or make any announcement at all? Thinking about it, it makes a lot of sense to keep Zorn. Rarely is an interim coach able to salvage a team's season in the NFL. It's extremely difficult to instill a new system mid season or dramatically change the play calls. While it is unlikely that the Redskins will be able to do anything this season, it's not really in Snyder's character to throw in the towel. Then, there is always the possibility that the interim does ok. If the Redskins were to fire Zorn after the Philadelphia game and the interim coach manages to go 4-5 in the remaining games this season, there may be pressure to remove the interim tag, allow him to build his own system and have a chance to lead this team. With numerous head coaching candidates available in the off season, why put yourself in this position and most likely resign yourself to another two mediocre seasons? Also, there is not a player revolt in the locker room. For bad teams, there may be mounting tensions in the locker room between the players and coaching staff. This is not the case in DC. Many of the players, in fact, have come out in support of Zorn.

So while the Redskins may not trust Zorn, they gain nothing by firing him midseason. The "vote of confidence" was still necessary, however, to end the questions. Snyder does not want a 2-12 season, but it's hard for Zorn and the players to think about football when they face questions about the coach everyday. As far the "future" statement by Cerrato, he was being political. It wouldn't have been much of a statement had he said, "Zorn is the coach for the rest of the season, but then we'll have to see." Let Zorn play out the rest of the season and try to salvage the team, then start over next season. Don't be fooled by Cerrato because the Redskins will have a new head coach in 2010.