So long Coach Gibbs

So Coach Joe Gibbs is retiring again from the Washington Redskins. He is stepping down with one year left on his contract and a 171-101 career record including 17-7 in the playoffs, though only 31-36 over the last 4 years. He is also walking away from 5.5M this season. Gibbs is a guy that has the third highest winning percentage among coaches with more than 125 wins. The guy won 3 Super Bowls with 3 different QBs at the helm. He already made the Hall of Fame in 1996 after his first stint as HC, but maybe he should be re-inducted for this season. This was his best job of coaching throughout his career.

His team was 5-6, having just lost to Tampa Bay and the playoffs seemed about one billion miles away. Then the next day, November 27, starting safety Sean Taylor was shot and killed by a couple of punk kids in his own house. The following Sunday the team lost on a last second field goal to Buffalo in large part thanks to a 15-yard penalty on Gibbs for calling two straight time outs, thus turning a 52 yarder into a 37 yarder. The team was 5-7. Then in the next game, though the Redskins won, it was a Pyrrhic victory as starting QB Jason Campbell was lost with an injury.

Gibbs just rallied the team behind 36 year old back-up Todd Collins and the record went from 5-7 to 9-7 and a playoff spot was clinched with a win over rival Dallas on the season's final day.

Then in the playoffs, his team rallied from a 13 point deficit to take the lead with a chance for more, but a missed field goal and a costly pick ended the Redskins' season.

Gibbs made this come together though following the loss of the team's best player. He took them from the edge of the world to the edge of the second round of the playoffs. This team was clearly not his best, but he coached them up.

Then he walked away after the emotional drain left him with nothing in the tank. He could have stuck around next year, collected money (5.5M) and maybe taken the team to the playoffs again, maybe not, but he pulled the ANTI-Spurrier and did what was best for the Redskins. Sure the whispers were there that maybe the game has passed him by, but I don't buy it. Football is about players. The players looked to him after they lost their best player and leader on the field. He took them farther than any thought they could go.

And now Gibbs will step aside and let Gregg Williams take over. Will the Redskins be better for it? Who knows, but the team was better this year with Joe Gibbs at the helm. It needed Gibbs. And he in fact DID help save the Redskins, which is what he promised Dan Snyder. Sometimes there is more to saving a team then just titles.