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10 greatest in-season turnarounds in Washington Football Team history

By Jonathan Eig

WASHINGTON, D.C. - CIRCA 1984: Head coach Joe Gibbs of the Washington Football Team talks with quarterback Joe Theismann #7 on the sidelines during an NFL football game circa 1984 at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.. Gibbs coached the Redskins from 1981-92 and 2004-2007. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, D.C. - CIRCA 1984: Head coach Joe Gibbs of the Washington Football Team talks with quarterback Joe Theismann #7 on the sidelines during an NFL football game circa 1984 at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.. Gibbs coached the Redskins from 1981-92 and 2004-2007. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /
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LANDOVER, MD – AUGUST 14: Head coach Joe Gibbs of the Washington Football Team looks on before a NFL exhibition football game against Carolina Panthers at FedEx Field on August 14, 2004 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
LANDOVER, MD – AUGUST 14: Head coach Joe Gibbs of the Washington Football Team looks on before a NFL exhibition football game against Carolina Panthers at FedEx Field on August 14, 2004 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

10-6: The honorable mentions

Here are five seasons in which things did turn around for the better in the second half. But in these years, things weren’t total disasters in the beginning. So the turnarounds may not be quite as impressive. Still, they are worth a brief memory.

1955: Coach Joe Kuharich took a team that had been pretty bad for a number of years, and rode them to five wins in their final six games, to finish the season at 8-4, and second place in the Eastern Conference.

1977: In George Allen’s final year, after starting 3-3, Washington went on a 6-2 tear to barely miss out on the playoffs.

1985: Theismann gave way to Schroeder. Riggo said good-bye and Rogers said hello. And wins in seven of the last nine games would flip a poor 3-4 start into a tie for the division crown.

2005: In the second year of his second stint, Joe Gibbs worked his magic, winning five straight to close the season and turn 5-6 into 10-6. This was the last year Washington won a playoff game.

2007: Four straight losses in the middle of the season left WFT at 5-7. Then four straight wins to close the year allowed Coach Gibbs to go out on a winning 9-7 record. (We will ignore the playoff loss that followed. Two pick-sixes in the fourth quarter are not the kind of thing you want to dwell on.)

Those were nice in-season turnarounds. These five were even better.

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