Should Mike Shanahan be fired?

[MTK]

Originally Posted by Paintrain

I can be a bit of a Shanny apologist so I've refrained from weighing in but I didn't really get 'I give up' from his comments. I got more of 'lets see what these guys are made of and who really wants to be here' but I get the other perspective. Probably shouldn't have been said the way he said it or given some additional clarification when it was out there and being dissected.

I think JK summed it up well

Did Mike Shanahan raise the so-called white flag on the season? Sure sounded that way. I get what he was saying: at 3-6, this is no longer about being in the playoff hunt, but about fighting through adversity. Since 1990, only three teams have been 3-6 and made the playoffs – the 1994 Patriots, the ’95 Lions and the ’96 Jaguars. So, yeah, he’s right. At this point it’s not about the playoffs and that’s how many in the locker room took those comments. However, it still was an unusual comment for a coach. Very unusual.

To a degree, you’re always evaluating your talent to see who you like and don’t like for the future. And perhaps the message was simply: ‘We’re about to find out what we have.’ But having covered many seasons where the Redskins weren’t good at this point, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a coach talk about evaluating players and finding out “who is going to be on your team for years to come,” at this point in the season. That sounds like late December talk once you’re officially out of the playoff hunt. Shanahan was right that the Carolina game was a must-win. He’s also right that their season took a different turn Sunday. But my guess is that a number of coaches around the league were surprised by what he said. I know I heard from one on Sunday who definitely was – as was Tony Dungy, who said as much on NBC. I don’t know that I question the leadership among the players; your most important player on offense works as hard as anyone. Your best leader on defense works as hard as anyone. It should flow from there, right? If not, why is that? You have to question many things at this point: are guys not being used properly? Developed properly? The questions now become bigger than about a particular game.

Panthers 21, Redskins 13: Ten Observations | WashingtonExaminer.com