DFP: Loss to Lions could cost Commanders coach Jim Zorn his job
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/359/story/1080423.html
Click link for entire article
Loss to Lions could cost Commanders coach Jim Zorn his job
By DREW SHARP - Detroit Free Press
It's only the third week of the NFL season, but it's never too early to project the first head coach to face the executioner's blade.
Watch your neck, Jim Zorn, should you lose at Ford Field on Sunday afternoon.
It's chic predicting a Lions victory against Washington. There's the standard "well, they've got to win at some point, don't they?" rationale. But some are making these predictions based on the increasing turmoil within the Commanders' organization.
How bad has it gotten for Zorn?
His team's own radio color analyst called him out to his face on Zorn's own radio show last week.
Former Commanders star quarterback Sonny Jurgensen has gained a reputation for his often colorful commentary as the team's radio analyst. But he took directness to a new level when he openly questioned Zorn's decision to run an ill-fated halfback option pass on third-and-goal last week against St. Louis.
The dialogue turned confrontational. Jurgensen told Zorn that if he were quarterbacking, he wouldn't have run that play. Zorn quickly retorted that he would then have removed Jurgensen from the game for what amounted to insubordination. Jurgensen chastised Zorn for the play not working and Zorn fired right back that he didn't call the play to fail.
How often do you hear a coach ripped apart - on his own show - by a team employee?
Did Jurgensen feel more comfortable openly questioning Zorn's play calling on the air because he has heard the rumblings of discontent within the Commanders' hierarchy?
After starting 6-2 last season, the Commanders have gone 3-7 in their next 10 games. There are issues with quarterback Jason Campbell. They've got perhaps the most impulsive owner in the NFL in Daniel Snyder, whose motivation for firing a coach could be a bad Chinese meal the previous night.
Losing to the Lions on Sunday, denying them the distinction of becoming only the second team in NFL history to lose 20 consecutive regular-season games, would push the snowball downhill on Zorn. And it certainly doesn't help his cause that Snyder isn't averse to spending big, big money on a high-profile head coach and Mike Shanahan is sitting out there with nothing to do this season but collect paychecks from a former employer.
There's more pressure on the Commanders on Sunday than the Lions. They can't afford to go half-speed on the notion that they don't need to play a full 60 minutes to beat the Lions. Should they coast and lose, the biggest loser would be Zorn.
