Monday is a pretty rough day to be Mike Shanahan. He got shut out for the first time as an NFL head coach when his Washington Redskins fell, 23-0, to the Buffalo Bills, and now many people are writing that he should be fired.
People like ... Jason Reid of the Washington Post, who kind of threw it out there:
In their second year under Shanahan, the Redskins shouldn’t be in such a mess. Something needs to change. Shanahan must prove he’s capable of fixing this — or step aside for someone who can.
Or ... like Rick Snider of the Washington Examiner, who did more that kind of throwing it out there.
At this point, an intervention by owner Dan Snyder might be welcome.
The once meddlesome boss has behaved since he hired coach Mike Shanahan and general manager Bruce Allen last year. He hasn't overstepped like he has in the past largely because the 2010 fan revolt forced him into exile.
But Snyder needs to have a candid conversation with Shanahan. The topic is simple: What in the world is Shanahan doing?
But perhaps nobody was harder on Shanahan than CSN Washington analyst Brian Mitchell. Mitchell has long been a critic of the Shanahan regime, and Sunday's 23-0 loss gave him the perfect opportunity to strike.
"You look at this game today, who was outcoached? The Redskins or the Bills? The Redskins were outcoached," he said. "We can begin to try to find out the problems on the field, this player or that player, [but] it comes down to whether they are prepared."
"We're in Week 7 of the season, and I'm hearing the coach saying, 'We're trying to see what guys can do,'" he said earlier. "Didn't you go through preseason and training camp [for that]? You chose the 53 best people for this team. You shouldn't still be seeing what guys can do. You should know what guys can do."
"Did Mike Shanahan make the right decisions on the guys he kept," he concluded. "That question needs to start popping up."
Trust me, Brian, that question's been popping up plenty.