John McDonnell / The Washington Post via Getty Images
The systematic incompetence of the Washington Redskins organization has claimed another victim in Jay Gruden, firing him after an 0-5 start and a 33-7 whooping at the hands of the New England Patriots.
Gruden, who finished 35-49-1 during his five-plus years in Washington, was canned after suspiciously timed videos of him appearing to smoke weed and hit on young ladies resurfaced and the coach essentially admitting to procrastinating his game-planning against the Patriots.
The Redskins will now be left to the malfunctioning devices of Dan Snyder and Bruce Allen, arguably the worst executive tandem in professional sports. The pair’s utter buffoonery was demonstrated once again in the manner in which they broke up with the man they once granted a fully guaranteed, 5-year contract worth $20 million.
Gruden was summoned to the team’s facility in Ashburn for a 5 a.m. meeting Monday by owner Daniel Snyder and team president Bruce Allen, who informed him of the decision.
The Redskins organization had this to say in a statement announcing the firing:
Through the first five games of the 2019 season, the team has clearly not performed up to expectations, and we all share in that responsibility. Moving forward we are committed to doing all that we can collectively as an organization to turn things around and give our Redskins fans and alumni a team they can be proud of in 2019 and beyond.
Imagine getting dragged out of bed at 4 am after getting mushroom-stamped by the Patriots at home, only for the powers-that-be to throw you on the unemployment line for not being able to prosper with Case Keenum.
As far as how the team took their coaches firing, there were two different camps of thought.
Anonymous Redskins player:
Redskins player to me on coaching change: "It was time. Too much laziness & stubborn *%#@ going on around here. Folks not taking #@$! serious. Looking at snap chat during practice, come on now. You know who I'm talking about. Guys were talking about it. We'll see how it goes."
— JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) October 7, 2019
And running back Chris Thompson:
Chris Thompson broke into tears when discussing Gruden after the game pic.twitter.com/rlsUNHTl0U
— Matthew Paras (@Matthew_Paras) October 6, 2019
Offensive line coach Bill Callahan will take the reigns as interim head coach, the next dead man walking in the assembly line of coaches set up to fail.