The next four games may determine Zorn's fate.

[MTK]

I think he makes it to the bye week. If we're 1-6 at that point, a change could come. Even then I don't think it's a guarantee.

[KI Skins Fan]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

I think he makes it to the bye week. If we're 1-6 at that point, a change could come. Even then I don't think it's a guarantee.

Are you sure that you don't want to reconsider that opinion?

If this team is 1-6 at the bye week, that would mean that we lost to at least three teams (Detroit, KC, and Tampa) that are certifiably terrible and one other (Carolina) that may be mired in a dismal winless season by the time we play them.

If we're 1-6 at the bye, it's possible that we would then be the only team that any of those four teams had beaten this season and we would have lost five straight games during the easy part of our schedule - three of them at home.

At that point, I'm pretty sure that Zorn would be fired immediately. We're talking about what Dan Snyder, not Job, might do.

[BringBackJoeT]

Originally Posted by KI Skins Fan

Are you sure that you don't want to reconsider that opinion?

If this team is 1-6 at the bye week, that would mean that we lost to at least three teams (Detroit, KC, and Tampa) that are certifiably terrible and one other (Carolina) that may be mired in a dismal winless season by the time we play them.

If we're 1-6 at the bye, it's possible that we would then be the only team that any of those four teams had beaten this season and we would have lost five straight games during the easy part of our schedule - three of them at home.

At that point, I'm pretty sure that Zorn would be fired immediately. We're talking about what Dan Snyder, not Job, might do.

I would agree that, if the team is in fact 1-6 at the bye week, Zorn will most likely be fired. And I'm not sure that the firing in that circumstance would be the result of a real or imagined shoot-from-the-hip nature of Snyder. Because a 1-6 record would virtually guarantee a firing at least at the end of the season, I think there would be a legitimate front office concern that the maintaining of the status quo might raise the possibility of shots fired back and forth between players and the coaching staff, all of whom will see the writing on the wall and will let loose any frustration they may have built up over the past 19 games. Such an environment, lasting nine weeks, wouldn't do anybody any good, and in fact, only bad things could come of it.

But I also think that it would require this worst-case scenario to get Zorn fired at the break. As others have said, it will be an interim coach who replaces Zorn if he's fired mid-season, meaning that the coach will merely be a caretaker one. So, while, on the one hand, the FO would want to avoid the possible damage that might stem from a really bad environment at Redskins Park that would shape if we were at 1-6, firing Zorn at mid-season would essentially be the FO's giving up on the season, which, even if we're 3-4 at the break, might be a little premature and could invite the same criticism Snyder got when he fired Norv before the end of the year. Yes, our schedule will only get tougher from that point on, but still, raising the white flag at that point might be too soon.

And if we're 2-5? I have no clue. That's the situation where FO people earn their money.

[KI Skins Fan]

Originally Posted by BringBackJoeT

I would agree that, if the team is in fact 1-6 at the bye week, Zorn will most likely be fired. And I'm not sure that the firing in that circumstance would be the result of a real or imagined shoot-from-the-hip nature of Snyder. Because a 1-6 record would virtually guarantee a firing at least at the end of the season, I think there would be a legitimate front office concern that the maintaining of the status quo might raise the possibility of shots fired back and forth between players and the coaching staff, all of whom will see the writing on the wall and will let loose any frustration they may have built up over the past 19 games. Such an environment, lasting nine weeks, wouldn't do anybody any good, and in fact, only bad things could come of it.

But I also think that it would require this worst-case scenario to get Zorn fired at the break. As others have said, it will be an interim coach who replaces Zorn if he's fired mid-season, meaning that the coach will merely be a caretaker one. So, while, on the one hand, the FO would want to avoid the possible damage that might stem from a really bad environment at Redskins Park that would shape if we were at 1-6, firing Zorn at mid-season would essentially be the FO's giving up on the season, which, even if we're 3-4 at the break, might be a little premature and could invite the same criticism Snyder got when he fired Norv before the end of the year. Yes, our schedule will only get tougher from that point on, but still, raising the white flag at that point might be too soon.

And if we're 2-5? I have no clue. That's the situation where FO people earn their money.

You made some good points. I'd like to comment on the two points I highlighted.

I think it is a commonly held management belief that once an executive has made up his mind to fire a manager, it's better to do it right away. There are numerous reasons for believing that is the right course of action. I'll mention a couple: First, if you're going down the wrong road there is no sense in continuing down that road. Second, it's very hard to maintain a satisfactory working relationship between the executive and the manager he's decided to fire and, soon enough, it will become apparent to the employees that the manager is a lame duck.

Yes, I agree that if Zorn were to be fired at midseason that, in effect, Dan Snyder would be giving up on the season. But I don't think Zorn would be fired simply because of a poor record. He would be fired because of a poor record and also because Snyder had the sense that the players, as a group, had lost their trust and confidence in their HC and had given up on him. In that case, the season is lost anyway.