Shanahan was fired after a Monday morning meeting with Washington owner Dan Snyder, around the same time the Minnesota Vikings announced they were parting ways with head coach Leslie Frazier. The NFL firing season officially got underway Sunday night, when the Browns axed Mike Chudzinski.
Jeff Zelevansky/Getty ImagesMike Shanahan's tenure with the Redskins ends in disgrace for the two-time Super Bowl winning coach.
ASHBURN, Va. (AP) - Mike Shanahan 's plan to restore order, professionalism and consistent success to the Washington Redskins disintegrated quickly in 2013, costing him his job Monday a day after the team finished a 3-13 season.
Shanahan was fired after a morning meeting with owner Dan Snyder and general manager Bruce Allen at Redskins Park, a formality expected for several weeks as the losses mounted and tension rose among Shanahan, Snyder and franchise player Robert Griffin III. A news conference was expected later Monday.
Shanahan went 24-40 in four seasons in Washington and had one year remaining on his five-year, $35 million contract. Snyder will now be seeking his eighth head coach for his 16th season as an NFL owner - a span that includes just four winning seasons, two playoff victories and seven last-place finishes in the NFC East.
'Redskins fans deserve a better result,' Snyder said in a statement. 'We thank Mike for his efforts on behalf of the Redskins. We will focus on what it takes to build a winning team, and my pledge to this organization and to this community is to continue to commit the resources and talent necessary to put this team back in the playoffs.'
Shanahan captured Super Bowls titles with quarterback John Elway and the Denver Broncos after the 1997 and 1998 seasons, but he won only one playoff game over his final 10 years with the club and was fired after the 2008 season.
Jim Mone/ASSOCIATED PRESSShanahan's career regular-season record is 170-138 over 20 seasons with the Los Angeles Raiders, Broncos and Redskins, but his two worst years have come in Washington - 5-11 in 2011 and this year's 3-13. The 2013 record was also the worst for the Redskins since 1994, and their season-ending eight-game losing streak is their longest in more than 50 years.
Shanahan's first two years with the Redskins were mostly spent trying to settle on a quarterback and cleaning up the mess left behind after the dysfunctional reign of front office chief Vinny Cerrato and coach Jim Zorn. The selection of Heisman Trophy winner Griffin with the No. 2 overall draft pick and a season-ending seven-game winning streak propelled the Redskins to 10-6 record in 2012, their first division title in 13 years.
But Griffin was injured in the playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks and required major knee surgery days later, setting the stage for a year of conflict as the quarterback vowed to return in record time and felt empowered enough to openly challenge some of his Shanahan's decisions.
Griffin returned for Week 1 of the regular season - just as he said he would - but he wasn't the same dynamic player who won the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year award in 2012. The Redskins also struggled on defense and special teams, with Shanahan repeatedly citing the handicap of putting together a roster with a two-year, $36 million salary cap penalty imposed by the league for the way Washington restructured contracts during the uncapped year of 2010.
Shanahan eventually benched Griffin for the final three games of the season. Even though Griffin was medically cleared to play, the coach said the move was best for the organization because it was important for the quarterback's development that he be healthy for the upcoming offseason. Griffin was clearly unhappy with the decision.
Don Wright/ASSOCIATED PRESSAlso on Monday the Minnesota Vikings fired coach Leslie Frazier, one year after they made the playoffs and one day after they finished a 5-10-1 season.
After going 10-6 in 2012, the Vikings regressed this year, done in by a leaky defense and an ongoing inability to find stability at quarterback. Frazier finished 21-33-1 in three-plus seasons.
The 54-year-old Frazier had one season remaining on his contract.
'We have tremendous respect and appreciation for Leslie and what he has done for the Minnesota Vikings,' owner Zygi Wilf said in a statement distributed by the team. 'He stepped in and established a strong positive culture here, and he has been the consummate professional as our head coach and in this community. Making this change is difficult but what we determined is best for the organization.'
The Vikings planned an afternoon news conference at Winter Park.
Cleveland didn't even wait until the day after their final game of the season to announce the firing of Mike Chudzinski, who was given his walking papers Sunday night after just one season. Nobody discards coaches quite like the Browns, who cited 'a concerning step backward in the second half of the year' in their decision to dump Chudzinski, who was let go just a few hours after a 20-7 loss in Pittsburgh - the Browns' seventh straight defeat and 10th in 11 games. The Browns have fired four coaches since 2008, a disturbing trend that perhaps best explains why the team has made the playoffs just once since their expansion rebirth 14 years ago. Chudzinski didn't even have a full year to fix the Browns (4-12), who have become one of the league's laughingstocks because of the endless turmoil. While introducing Chudzinski on Jan. 10, owner Jimmy Haslam and CEO Joe Banner touted the 45-year-old as one of the game's bright young offensive minds and they were confident the lifelong Browns fan had the necessary skills and drive to turn the team into a consistent winner. Now, they're looking for someone new. Chudzinski was let go with three years left on his contract.
Posted by Unknown on Monday, December 30, 2013 - Rating: 4.5
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