I honestly believe that most Redskins fans don't really know what they think about Jim Zorn. I know I don't. He was a total surprise as the hire for the head coaching position. His first NFL game was horrible, but he then led his team to a 6-2 mark. Since then, Washington has lost four of five and are spiraling out of control.
He can be blamed for the playcalling, blamed for being in over his head, blamed for his brash style and blamed for not being Joe Gibbs.
The recent tift with Clinton Portis has rubbed many the wrong way. This marks the second time that Portis has publicly complained about Zorn. Zorn needs to watch it. Portis is a fan favorite and the biggest Redskins fan there is just happens to own the team. Daniel Snyder loves Clinton Portis and Zorn needs to remember that.
Not to say that a coach can't do something that isn't popular to his team if they need it. But Zorn's "benching" of Portis was very troubling. I mean, this is a guy who was one of the favorites to win the MVP award this season. I say was because his production has gone down and he's dragged the team down with him.
This isn't to say that Zorn was wrong.
Zorn has every right to sit Portis if he isn't executing the game plan correctly. Zorn would have had every right to discipline Portis for what he said on Thursday. The problem is that Zorn follows the same code most Redskins personnel follows: don't make owner Daniel Snyder angry at you.
Ticking off Portis will certainly do that. If push came to shove, he isn't going anywhere. Now you know why you were the ninth or tenth pick to be the head coach. That's also the reason a guy like Bill Cowher won't be coming to D.C. Do you think he would want to deal with a meddling owner? Of course not.
Joe Gibbs was able to get what he wanted done, but that was due to his legendary status and the idolization Snyder had for him. Steve Spurrier got clipped after two years. Marty Schottenheimer was done after one season. Both had a much better resume than Zorn currently has and neither of them have ticked off Danny Boy's favorite player.
It will be interesting to see what Zorn does and how the Redskins perform in their final three games. They have winnable games against the Bengals and Niners with a huge game hosting the Eagles sandwiched in between. If the team continues to look as bad as they've been lately, Zorn may be looking for a new gig.
Zorn Needs To Keep His Ego In Check Or It Will Get Him Fired originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:32:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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