Mike Shanahan deserves another shot as an NFL head coach
By Luke Sims
Mike Shanahan is getting some looks as a possible head coach in the NFL after being excused by the Washington Redskins in 2013, and he deserves another shot.
After 14 seasons coaching the Denver Broncos, delivering two Super Bowls, seven playoff appearances, and 12 seasons of .500 or better, Mike Shanahan was clearly one of the better head coaches in the NFL since getting his second HC shot in 1995.
So it wasn’t particularly surprising when the reeling Washington Redskins gave him a shot in 2010, just two years after being excused in Denver. Shanahan was a Super Bowl winner and brought a level of discipline and “old-school” grounding that was much-needed to the team.
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The re-tread years of Joe Gibbs had yielded two playoff appearances before a couple of lost seasons under Jim Zorn for the Redskins. Shanahan was brought in with the ability to have the final say on football operations. He signed a five-year contract as executive vice president and head coach. What the Redskins needed was a culture change and Shanahan had the track record and approach to get that done.
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As we all know, everything unravelled around the Redskins during Shanahan’s tenure there. “The status quo has to end,” general manager Bruce Allen had said when the hiring was announced and, unfortunately, things didn’t get off to a perfect start. But after two poor seasons, Shanahan found his answer in rookie quarterback sensation Robert Griffin III.
The relationship Mike Shanahan had with RGIII and other superstars like Albert Haynesworth and Donovan McNabb (though McNabb’s best days were clearly behind him) strained his relationship with Allen enough that by the time RGIII was struggling with injury and should have been rested, his fate was essentially sealed. He later further poisoned his relationship with the Redskins by turning to Kirk Cousins over Griffin.
Shanahan’s late push to start Kirk Cousins over a healthy RGIII was once heralded as a major mistake and writer Chris Wesseling at NFL.com mused, “The unceremonious final act in Washington will give teams with coaching openings second thoughts about Shanahan’s ability to turn their own franchises around.”
But hindsight is 20/20 and with a red-hot Cousins leading the ‘Skins to the playoffs in 2015, what was once a near career-ending act by Shanahan may turn to be his saving grace. Back in September of 2015, Shanahan compared Cousins favorably to Hall of Famers Steve Young and John Elway, saying that “Kirk’s statistics are better than theirs.” He went further and said Cousins would be a top-10 quarterback.
With Shanahan at least slightly redeemed by the play of his former secondary quarterback, drafted 100 spots after Griffin, we’re beginning to see the interest in bringing him back as a head coach pique. You can bet the playoff-bound Redskins won’t come calling, but there are plenty of openings for a head coach and it is expected that Shanahan will be in the mix for a number of them.
While the specific interviews and interests of the teams and Shanahan himself are going to work themselves out in the coming weeks and/or months, what needs to be sorted out now is the understanding of whether Shanahan is ready to be an NFL coach again and whether he can turn a team round. It was just over two years ago that serious questions surrounded his ability to turn a franchise around. This questions, even with the way the Redskins have played out this season, are not wholly put to bed.
Based on the way the Broncos thrived under Shanahan – both with John Elway and without – and the stability he brought and the foresight he has shown (in hindsight) in Washington, it’s clear that he is well worth considering.
What matters most in the NFL, however, is not whether a team was dysfunctional around a coach or whether he had the right approach and was later vindicated. What matters most in the NFL is getting wins, and there are few coaches in the NFL that have delivered quite as well as the 63-year old Mike Shanahan.
Boasting a 170-138 record as a head coach, including a two-year stint with the Los Angeles Raiders in the late 1980s, Shanahan is a proven winner. He has also shown that, given time, he is capable of creating a stable culture of success. He won with Elway when some thought the Lombardi would forever elude him. He then managed to make the playoffs with both Brian Griese and Jake Plummer, and probably would have turned Jay Cutler into a playoff quarterback as well.
For a team like the San Francisco 49ers (who desperately need some stability and someone to guide them over coming years) or New York Giants (who are looking for someone to get Eli Manning another ring), a guy like Mike Shanahan may just be exactly what they need.
There’s no more seasoned, prepared coach ready to step in and put in the work again to turn a team into a contender. Whoever does take a shot at glory with the more mature head coach should know that he can get it done, given time.
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Now, whether he wants to take the time to build something special again at his age is up for debate. It would be magical to see and some older coaches have certainly done it, but he may be looking for that perfect situation. No matter what, based on his body of work and the way the Washington dysfunction has played out, he’s certainly worthy of being a head coach again in the NFL.