Legendary coach Joe Gibbs won three Super Bowls during his tenure as the Washington Redskins head coach. But what if I told you his four best wins as a head coach weren’t even in the playoffs?
At 5-6, the Washington Redskins are currently in the middle of a must-win game against the Buffalo Bills. Washington is up 16-14 with time winding down and the Bills are lined up for a field goal. “Time out!” Joe Gibbs yells in an effort to ice Buffalo Bills kicker Rian Lindell. But, that was the second consecutive time out Gibbs called, which resulted in a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, shortening a tough 51-yard field goal into a very makeable 36-yarder. Lindell was dead center on his first kick from 51 yards just before Gibbs called the first timeout, so he very well could have made it again whether Gibbs called a second timeout or not.
From 36 yards away, Lindell made it and dropped the Redskins to 5-7 on the season. While this game was a must-win because Washington needed to stay in the playoff mix, much more importantly, it was the first game the Redskins played after Sean Taylor’s tragic death, and less than a week later no less. Washington absolutely needed this game for Taylor to honor his name, and to give the fans something to smile about and enjoy — even if only for a moment, and they collapsed at the end.
After missing the playoffs two out of the first three years that he was back in charge, Gibbs was now 5-7, and in the middle of what now appeared to be a lost season. But little did we know that Gibbs was about to coach the best four games of his legendary career, and get the Redskins into the playoffs. We’ll take a look back on the next four games of the Redskins 2007 season, plus the wild card game, and this team’s legacy.