Lions firing of HC Caldwell articulates Redskins demands for Gruden

Jay Gruden survived another year. But the ice is thin. And it’s only getting thinner.

The NFL’s 2017 regular season is officially over, and thus, the firings of Black Monday have commenced. Among the initial victims are Bears’ coach John Fox, Colts’ coach Chuck Pagano, Raiders’ coach Jack Del Rio, and Lions’ coach Jim Caldwell.

Caldwell is a particularly surprising name to occupy this list. While his Lions never won a playoff game, Caldwell got them to the big dance twice in four years, and he accumulated a record of 36-28. His best year came in 2014, his first season with the Lions, when he went 11-5 and led them to the playoffs. That year appeared to be a glimpse of an auspicious future for Caldwell and the Lions, but after going 7-9 in 2015, and 9-7 in both 2016 and 2017, Caldwell was canned.

It wasn’t that Caldwell’s Lions team was bad. They competed, and if only a couple more games had gone their way, they would be in the playoffs right now. But Caldwell never got them to where they wanted to be, and over a span of four years, nothing changed. Nothing got better. Yes, Matthew Stafford played better when Calvin Johnson left and his weapons were more diversified, but without a running game and a consistent defense, the team couldn’t latch on to success. Does that sound familiar?

Caldwell made the playoffs only once in the last three years of his time with the Lions. In that same span, Caldwell accumulated a record of 25-23. In Jay Gruden’s most recent three years with the Redskins, he’s compiled a record of 24-23-1, making the playoffs, you guessed it, just once. Both coaches failed to make the playoffs in 2017, one going 7-9, and the other going 9-7. Today, the 9-7 coach is out of a job. And the 7-9 coach is safe. For now.

Anyone who judges these two coaches on numbers alone must dig deeper. Jay Gruden had a tough task this year. The Redskins were hit the hardest in the league with injuries, and the team fell apart when too much depth was eaten up by ailments. Gruden did what he could with what he had, keeping them competitive week in and week out, despite playing droves of practice squad players. There were key games they were very close to winning. At the Chiefs. At the Saints. At home against the Vikings. But at the end of the day, a loss is a loss. And Jay Gruden had nine of them.

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Gruden’s 2017 performance, in the face of adversity, was good enough to keep a job. But in D.C., where monotony renders the coach a miscreant, Gruden does not have much time left. Caldwell’s firing at the hands of the Lions serves as a barometer for the breathing room Gruden has. Regardless of the circumstances, regardless of the front office ineptitude, and regardless of the adversity and offseason turmoil that may block this team from winning, Gruden needs to win to keep his job in 2018. It’s playoffs or bust. No matter what. If Gruden can’t comply to the terms, then he could end up being 2018’s Caldwell. And the search for a scapegoat will claim another victim.