The Washington Football Team is a franchise known for more dysfunction than success in recent history.
Things really started to go south in 2014 once Jay Gruden came aboard as head coach.
He made the playoffs one time from 2014-2019 and was fired after an 0-5 start in 2019.
That let Ron Rivera take over and while his team missed the postseason in 2021, the franchise seems to be moving in a positive direction.
Hindsight always provides clarity and it’s now clear Washington messed up in 2014 when hiring Gruden.
A graphic shared by NFL analyst Warren Sharp drives that point home to the core.
they hired Jay Gruden as HC instead while all 3 left to coach elsewhere pic.twitter.com/pFGp1AJiyL
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) January 19, 2022
Matt LaFleur, Kyle Shanahan, and Sean McVay were all on Mike Shanahan’s staff in 2013.
All three are now coaching NFC playoff teams in the Divisional Round this weekend.
All fans in Washington can do is wonder what could have been.
Three Paths To Success
It made sense for Shanahan to leave since his dad was the head coach who got fired.
He joined the Cleveland Browns in 2014 and resigned after one season working with Johnny Manziel.
He then took the offensive coordinator job with the Atlanta Falcons, helping to engineer an epic Super Bowl collapse.
But that did not slow his ascent as he has been head coach of the San Francisco 49ers since 2017.
Shanahan nearly won a Super Bowl in 2019 and is trying to get back to that stage this season.
LaFleur headed to the college ranks with Notre Dame in 2014 before returning to the NFL in 2015 to work with Shanahan in Atlanta as the quarterbacks coach.
He was an offensive coordinator by 2017 and became head coach of the Green Bay Packers in 2019.
"Unbelievable job! So proud of you guys!"
🗣 Coach breaks us down after a great team win. pic.twitter.com/sUoBQNFyoC
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) January 18, 2022
McVay was the only one to stay in Washington under Gruden.
He was the offensive coordinator from 2014-2016 before landing the Los Angeles Rams job in 2017 at the age of 30.
Fans have not enjoyed Dan Snyder’s time as owner in Washington.
Being reminded about all this coaching talent leaving the team won’t help his case at all.
