Snyder picks Shanahan to take pressure off

Good luck, Mike Shanahan. You're going to need it.

The new head coach of the Redskins might put Washington back on the NFL map, but I don't know that he puts the Redskins back in the playoffs, and here's why: While he overcame the competition in the AFC West and twice won the Super Bowl, I don't see how he overcomes his new owner.

I'm talking, of course, about Daniel Snyder.

Norv Turner couldn't do it. Marty Schottenheimer couldn't do it. Steve Spurrier couldn't do it. Heck, even Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs couldn't do it.

Think about that: Gibbs was 30-34 in four seasons under Snyder, and that's not Hall of Fame worthy. But it's Daniel Snyder worthy. Only two coaches in Snyder's 11 years as owner have had winning seasons: Gibbs was one of them, Turner was the other.

So why should Shanahan break the trend? Because, Snyder supporters will contend, The Daniel has learned his lesson and will not be as meddlesome and as manipulative as he was in the past when he had acting GM Vinny Cerrato to push around. Cerrato is gone, and Bruce Allen has taken his place, and Snyder will do what he couldn't when Cerrato was there -- which is to leave Allen and Shanahan alone.

At least, that is the plan.

But how does Snyder leave anyone alone when he hasn't in the past? Ah, say his supporters, but he hasn't had a Shanahan before. But he had Schottenheimer, and quick question: Who won more games, Schottenheimer or Shanahan? It is Schottenheimer. And who has the better winning percentage? Sorry, it's Schottenheimer again. Yet the Redskins were 8-8 in his only season in Washington.

Snyder had Gibbs, too, and his return was supposed to bring back the glory years of the 1980s when Washington went to three Super Bowls, winning two. Only it didn't. Gibbs had two winning seasons in four years with Snyder and left after tiring of mediocrity.

So if Gibbs and Schottenheimer couldn't win -- and if one of college football's most successful coaches, Spurrier, couldn't win -- what's to say things should be different now? Again, Snyder supporters respond that the environment is different and that he will defer all football decisions to football people -- meaning Shanahan and Allen.

Except he deferred all football decisions in 2001 to Schottenheimer. At least, that was the idea after Schottenheimer canned Cerrato. And that didn't work out so well.

Now it's Shanahan who has complete authority, just as Schottenheimer did when he arrived on the scene. People close to the club tell me that Shanahan would not have taken the job if he didn't have the run of the place and that Allen serves more as a consultant than a GM.

Uh-oh.

Shanahan is a good head coach, he is not a good GM. It was Mike Shanahan the GM who got Mike Shanahan the head coach fired in Denver, and if you don't believe me, check out the team's recent draft deliveries when the Broncos had to do something, anything to bail out a defense that couldn't stop San Diego.

They drafted Jarvis Moss. Bust. They drafted Tim Crowder. Another bust. Marcus Thomas. Strike three. They made their first defensive pick in the 2008 draft some cornerback named Jack Williams, and you can circle the bases, fellas. Granted, I'll give you Elvis Dumervil, but he didn't become an elite pass rusher until Shanahan left town and Mike Nolan moved him to linebacker in a 3-4 defense.

Mike Shanahan will need a decent QB to get some wins in D.C. (US Presswire)

Anyway, the point is the Broncos didn't help themselves where they needed it most, and the reason is because Shanahan is not a GM, he's a head coach. In fact, he's one of the best in the business. But I've already seen what two of the best in the business have done in Washington, and it wasn't much.

I have enormous respect for Shanahan. I covered him when he was the offensive coordinator in San Francisco, and the 49ers won a Super Bowl. I followed him when he took the Broncos to the top, too, winning back-to-back Lombardi Trophies.

Shanahan knows how to put points on the board, and that will satisfy a lot of angry season ticket-holders in Washington. He knows how to win, too. But Spurrier had that reputation when he arrived in Washington, and he fizzled. And Gibbs parlayed that reputation into a bust in Canton, and he floundered, too.

Some people will tell you it's because they had Snyder as their GM, and I don't necessarily disagree. And now that Snyder presumably retires to the background -- though I don't know that he's up to playing second banana to anyone -- there are supposed to be fewer obstacles to navigate.

Only tell that to Schottenheimer. When he was the head coach, he had players running to Snyder to tattle on their head coach.

So good luck, Mike, you have a minefield to run. First of all, you're not cut out to be a GM. You're a coach, and a damned good one. Second, you don't have a franchise quarterback. You have Jason Campbell, provided he sticks around, and we all know what your record was without John Elway -- you won one playoff game.

People tell me that's OK -- that Shanahan will spend Washington's first pick of the draft on a quarterback and will sit him a season behind a veteran -- maybe Campbell if the Redskins can convince him to stay. But the last franchise quarterback Shanahan drafted was none other than Jay Cutler, and new Denver coach Josh McDaniels thought so much of the guy he couldn't wait to trade him to Chicago, where he led the league in interceptions and sank the Bears.

Cutler fans say, yeah, well, it would've been different if Shanahan were his head coach, and I say, it would? He was 17-20 under Shanahan and never had a winning season in Denver. For that matter, he hasn't had a winning season anywhere since high school.

So there you have it, Washington. A new head coach with terrific credentials, but not as a GM. Yet he'll have complete authority over personnel, which takes the heat off Snyder -- and, frankly, that's what this hire is all about. Snyder wants to get out of the line of fire, and who can blame him. He makes such an easy target. So he puts Shanahan in his place, and be careful what you wish for, Mike.