Changing the name to Washington Commanders was supposed to signal a new day and hopefully help usher in a new era of winning.
Before Commanders came the Washington Football Team and two more losing records making it five in a row since the franchise last enjoyed an above .500 seasons.
Since Washington adopted its current nickname the team has stacked on two more years failing to make it above .500 and the memories of great football in the nation’s capital have begun to fade for some.
“Gibbs led teams to the playoffs nine times with four Super Bowl appearances and three wins.”Dan Pizzuta, 33rd Team
But managing partner Josh Harris has employed general manager Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn to turn those things around in a much more real way than a name change ever could. And he’s set his new staff upon their journey to seek out the winning feeling the eighth-best head coach in NFL history captured from 1981-1992.
“(Joe) Gibbs has one fewer career win than John Harbaugh over the same number of seasons, but that completely undersells the impact he had as Washington’s coach. During his first 12-year run with Washington, his teams finished with fewer than eight wins just once, a 7-9 season in 1988, and that includes an 8-1 record in the strike-shortened 1982 season,” says 33rd Team’s Dan Pizzuta in his column ranking the top 10 NFL head coaches of all-time. “Gibbs led teams to the playoffs nine times with four Super Bowl appearances and three wins. Despite being a Don Coryell pupil and building up an explosive passing game as San Diego’s offensive coordinator, Gibbs’s Washington teams were built through the offensive line and dominant ground game. He’s the only head coach to win a Super Bowl with three different quarterbacks.”
Not every season under Gibbs was a gem. The team started with an 8-8 campaign in his first season as head coach.
The next year, the strike-shortened one, Washington had as many wins in just nine games and won the first of three Super Bowls. That one quarterbacked by Joe Theismann.
Doug Williams quarterbacked the next, coming in the 1987 NFL season, and finally Gibbs won one more with quarterback Mark Rypien. Setting his record as the only coach to win Super bowls with three different quarterbacks.
Quinn has been to one, with quarterback Matt Ryan during their time with the Atlanta Falcons. So if he gets to another it’ll be with a second quarterback. Not quite the same achievement, but if he can pull it off he might have a shot at becoming the second-greatest head coach the Commanders franchise has ever seen.
