LANDOVER, Md. – When legendary football coach Joe Gibbs first approached his wife, Pat, with the possibility of him returning to the NFL, she had a pretty good idea of how that ride might end.
“She looked at me and said, ‘You’re going to ruin your good name,’” Joe Gibbs recalled last week.
That was before Gibbs returned to the Washington Redskins in 2004 and posted a disappointing 6-10 record.
“After the first year,” Gibbs said, “I told her, ‘We’re halfway there.’”
When you’ve already won 140 games, and seen your bust added to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, you can have a sense of humor about such things.
Now beginning the second season of his second tenure in the NFL, the 64-year-old Gibbs is starting to put up results that are more expected from his “good name.”
Gibbs has the Redskins off to a 2-0 start, leading them to an unbeaten record that only three other teams can match as the fourth week of the NFL season begins. Using a similar system that relies on a bruising offensive line, a strong running attack and an ability to go deep for big plays, Gibbs finally has the 2005 Redskins looking like the franchise he left shortly after the 1992 season.
Gibbs retired from football in 1993 and had a successful run as owner of a NASCAR team called Joe Gibbs Racing. He had never envisioned returning to the NFL until his youngest son, Coy, expressed a desire to get into coaching. Knowing that his family would be separated – Coy and oldest son JD had worked as part of Joe Gibbs Racing – Gibbs decided to take owner Daniel Snyder up on his offer to return to the Redskins.
“We were kind of praying for the doors to close, and they opened,” Gibbs said last week. “I really knew that I was starting all over again. The past means nothing, and so we’re just going to work as hard as we can.
“I realize I’m operating without a net. This could be ugly.”
That would be nothing new for a franchise that has had very little to celebrate since Gibbs’ 1993 retirement.
Since Gibbs took his 140-65 overall record, his impressive 16-5 mark in postseason play, and his three Super Bowl rings and left the franchise, the Redskins have won just 42 percent of their games (74-103) and made only one postseason appearance (1999). Richie Petitbon, Norv Turner, Marty Schottenheimer and Steve Spurrier have all come and gone, and now the Redskins are back in the hands of the last man to take them to a Super Bowl.
“We’ve gone through a lot of tough times with the franchise here,” Gibbs said. “I think (the fans) have treated me absolutely great. … I’ve always been treated a lot better than I deserve.”
Gibbs said he has already learned in his second tour of the NFL, mainly because of the way the game has changed. Free agency was just starting when Gibbs retired. Bye weeks were just being introduced. There were no such thing as instant replay or computerized game film or end-zone dances with accessories. So Gibbs has had to modify his tactics on the fly.
“I think he has made some adjustments” from last season, cornerback Shawn Springs said. “Coach Gibbs is a very competitive man. All successful head coaches are. He just does whatever it takes to win. He just tweaked it up.”
Whatever Gibbs has done seems to be working – for now.
“The past doesn’t buy you anything,” the Hall of Fame coach said. “We’re just trying to do the best we can. It’s a learning experience.”
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