The 5 best offensive coordinators in Washington Commanders franchise history

Scoring points for fun has defined the greatest teams in the history of the Washington Commanders franchise. Those points were the result of a legacy of consistent innovation on offense.

Record-setting units, era-defining schemes, and Pro Football Hall of Fame talent have helped Washington dominate defenses through the ages. The great minds behind many of the most prolific offenses in league annals aren't easy to quantify as coordinators.

Numerous head coaches doubled up as play-callers. Ray Flaherty's spirit of innovation made him the perfect coach for ahead-of-his-time quarterback Sammy Baugh in the 1930s and 1940s. Otto Graham was in the top job when Washington unleashed a triple-threat air attack featuring wide receivers Bobby Mitchell and Charley Taylor, along with tight end Jerry Smith, on overmatched defenses during the 1960s.

Flaherty and Graham rate as honorable mentions, but they don't make the top five offensive coordinators in franchise history for a couple of compelling reasons.

Criteria for selection

Graham's passing games were explosive, but his offenses lacked balance. That one-dimensional approach, coupled with some shoddy defense, yielded losing records.

As for Flaherty, his lengthy fidelity to single-wing and double-wing concepts dated his offenses throughout his time in charge. His best team was arguably the 1942 NFL Championship vintage that relied more on a formidable defense than a wide-open offense.

The coordinators (or head coaches who called plays) on this list made transformative and creative use of personnel or oversaw offenses with consistent track records for production. Those who combined all these traits rank higher.

Without further ado, here are the five best offensive coordinators in Washington's illustrious franchise history.

The 5 best offensive coordinators in Washington Commanders franchise history

5. Kyle Shanahan

He didn't have elite talent at his disposal to make many top-10 units, but Kyle Shanahan lands on this list because of two things. The X's and O's and what his playbook did for individual players.

When it comes to X's and O's, Shanahan is one of the best. Often unfairly maligned because his dad Mike was head coach in Washington when he was given the head. He may not be a great play-caller, but he's a great designer of plays.

You only need to look at the players who thrived on his watch for ample proof of Shanahan's mastery. Running back Ryan Torain, a former fifth-round draft pick, averaged 4.5 yards per carry in 2010, the same season Santana Moss made a career-high 93 catches for 1,115 receiving yards.

Tight end Fred Davis posted career-best marks for receptions (59) and yards (796) in 2011. Then came Shanahan's masterpiece, Robert Griffin III's rookie campaign in 2012.

Griffin took the league by storm because Shanahan was smart enough to design an option-based offense geared to what the dual-threat athlete did well. The system also hid the things the inexperienced signal-caller couldn't do. Namely, progress through his reads, and be accurate under pressure.

A horrific knee injury ended the Griffin experiment ahead of schedule, but Shanahan still schemed enough ways for Pierre Garcon to set the franchise record for receptions in a single season, 113, a year later.

He had his share of detractors, but the upward trajectory of Shanahan's career since he left Washington in 2014 proves he was building the platform for greatness.

4. Sean McVay

Placing Sean McVay within the legacy of Washington's all-time offensive coordinators is tricky. Was he a terrific play-caller or the fortunate recipient of working with awesome talent?

McVay's offenses in Washington never ranked higher than 10th in points and third in yards. Yet, his aptitude for using playmakers led to some brilliant individual seasons.

Nobody benefited more from McVay's playsheet than Kirk Cousins. The quarterback, who often divided opinion, threw for 4,166 yards and 29 touchdowns in 2015, a playoff year. The signal-caller added 4,917 yards and 25 scores through the air a season later.

The difference in both seasons was Cousins' favorite target(s). In 2015, it was brilliant but brittle tight end Jordan Reed. McVay got more out of the roving pass-catcher than the Shanahans ever did, drawing up the concepts that helped him snare 87 receptions for 952 receiving yards, the most single-season catches by a tight end in franchise history.

Things were different in 2016 when it was all about wideouts Garcon and DeSean Jackson, both of whom topped 1,000 receiving yards. McVay's subsequent time as head coach of the Los Angeles Rams has underlined his flair for turning players into stars. Just ask receivers Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua.

Had his offenses in Washington ranked higher in points and yards, McVay would have a loftier position on this list.

3. Ted Marchibroda

His offenses never ranked lower than 11th in points, but Ted Marchibroda isn't always remembered among the franchise greats. That's a shame because he was a natural for maximizing talent.

Marchibroda's play-calling helped Billy Kilmer become a Pro Bowl quarterback by leading the league in touchdowns and passer rating in 1972. It also helped Larry Brown secure NFL MVP honors in the same year before he finished his career as one of the best running backs in franchise history.

Washington was in the Super Bowl that year, helped in no small part by a Marchibroda offense that scored the seventh-most points in football. His unit was the sixth-highest scorer a season later, when Brown rushed for 860 yards and eight touchdowns, while also tallying 482 yards and six scores as a receiver.

Finishing fourth in points in 1974 represented the high point for Marchibroda. This offense was more about receivers Taylor and Roy Jefferson.

Marchibroda took what he learned under George Allen in Washington and crafted league-leading offenses as head coach of the Baltimore Colts. He eventually developed expansive, no-huddle attacks for the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens.

That's a worthy legacy for any offensive coordinator.

2. Norv Turner

Seven seasons as head coach produced only three winning records and one playoff appearance, but Norv Turner deserves to be remembered more fondly for his offenses. Those units worked because of his knowledge of the famed 'Air Coryell' system, as well as his ability to replace key players and keep offensive machines operating at a high level.

The first example of the latter occurred when Turner's first big draft swing proved a miss after 1994 No. 3 overall pick Heath Shuler couldn't live up to the billing. No bother, he gave the keys to the offense to Gus Frerotte, a seventh-rounder from the same draft class who became a viable pro starter.

He threw for 3,453 yards in 1996, the same year Washington ranked eighth in points and ninth in yards. Frerotte was helped by Terry Allen, who rushed for 21 touchdowns as part of a second-straight 1,300-plus-yards campaign.

Allen was one of many veterans who enjoyed prolific second-career acts thanks to Turner. Another was wide receiver Henry Ellard, who was 33 years old when he caught 77 passes for 1,397 receiving yards on a 3-13 team in 1994.

Ellard broke the 1,000-yard barrier three years in a row in Washington. He deserves to be mentioned alongside the greatest receivers who ever suited up for the Burgundy and Gold.

Frerotte, Allen, and Ellard had moved on by 1999, replaced by Brad Johnson, Stephen Davis, and Albert Connell, respectively. The new trio helped Turner construct his masterpiece in Washington, the 1999 unit that was second in both points and yards.

Connell and Michael Westbrook both eclipsed 1,100 yards receiving. Davis rushed for 1,405 yards and 17 touchdowns, while Larry Centers caught 69 passes out of the backfield. Johnson kept all of the playmakers in business during a career-best 4,005-yard passing season.

That offense powered the surge to a first NFC East title since 1991 and a first playoff victory since '92. Turner kept the points coming during particularly lean years for the franchise.

1. Joe Gibbs

Joe Gibbs isn't just the greatest head coach in Washington history (not to mention NFL history), he's also the best offensive coordinator. Sure, others played key roles in his success on this side of the ball. Vital assistants like Joe Bugel, Rob Dowhower, and Al Saunders. But nobody did more with the scheme and personnel.

His legacy includes the one-back set and counter-trey. The latter was the most dominant running play of the 1980s. It made John Riggins a legend and helped George Rogers, Earnest Byner, and Clinton Portis dominate.

Fidelity to the running game didn't offset Gibbs' brilliance in designing passing concepts. He took the 'Air Coryell' scheme he learned in San Diego and riffed with it to make stars out of modest quarterbacks and create some of the most productive receivers on the team's record books.

Art Monk was among those receivers, and he made 106 catches in 1984 when Gibbs similarly used him to how he'd deployed Canton-bound "move" tight end Kellen Winslow Sr. with the Chargers.

That was a year after Washington's 1983 offense set a then-NFL record with 541 points. It was the ninth time in 12 seasons Gibbs' offenses ranked in the top 10 for points scored during his first tenure in charge.

Things didn't work out nearly as well in his second spell on the sideline. But Moss and tight end Chris Cooley were still Pro Bowlers on Gibbs' watch.

Coaching to core strengths of his skill players was Gibbs' signature trait. He put it to best use with quarterbacks. Jay Schroeder and Mark Rypien were allowed to uncork deep passes at will to take advantage of their awesome arm strength. Joe Theismann was allowed to ad-lib and make his mobility a facet of the offense. Doug Williams deployed his touch passing in the underneath game more often.

Gibbs just knew what made football's most important position work. He also knew all offense is built on the foundation of formidable lines.

A strong platform and brain for innovation made Gibbs the guru for offense all other play-callers will be judged against.

The best 5 offensive coordinators in Washington Commanders franchise history by win percentage

Information provided by Pro Football History.

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