After a rocky 0-5 start to their 2019 season, the Washington Redskins have finally decided to make some franchise-altering moves, and it started with their head coach being fired. According to the Washington Post, Jay Gruden was fired on Monday morning after another disastrous loss to the Patriots in Week 5. The report says Gruden was requested at the Redskins practice facility earlier this morning when he was informed he had lost his job.
Gruden was summoned to the team’s facility in Ashburn for a 5 a.m. meeting Monday by owner Daniel Snyder and team president Bruce Allen, who informed him of the decision.
The firing comes after five full NFL seasons of being the head coach in Washington. However, after a putrid 0-5 start this season and seemingly no direction for the franchise to go in the future, owner Dan Snyder and the Skins front office decided it was time to cut bait with Jay Gruden.
Many had been calling for Gruden’s job over the past few seasons now and some have even speculated whether he’s a head coach at the NFL level. Gruden didn’t show much in his half-decade plus tenure with Washington, compiling a 35-49-1 record since taking over at the helm in 2014.
The immediate cause behind his firing appears to be the 33-7 thumping the Redskins just took to the Patriots one week after being embarrassed by their division rival New York Giants. Gruden had also made some questionable calls throughout the first portion of the season, such as deactivating Adrian Peterson for Week 1 and then throwing in rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins down 17-3 against New York.
It remains to be seen if Gruden finds a coaching job elsewhere in the NFL but it may be a while before he gets another chance as a head coach, if ever. Offensive line coach Bruce Callahan is expected to serve as the interim head coach for the time being. Washington travels to Miami for a Week 6 showdown with the Dolphins as both teams try to get in the winning column.
