Jay Gruden knew his fate when a text came through Sunday night around 8 pm, saying to meet Redskins owner Dan Snyder and team president Bruce Allen Monday morning. With the meeting set at 5 am, Gruden decided to drive to Redskins Park around midnight.
He cleaned out his office, showered and napped at the facility before meeting with Snyder and Allen to be told he had been fired.
“I’m not bitter,” Gruden told the Washington Post. ““This is a production-based business and I didn’t get it done.”
The Redskins lacked production under Gruden. They finished 7-9 in back-to-back seasons in 2017 and 2018. Then started this season 0-5 with four straight double-digit losses. His tenure in Washington over with a 35-49-1 record, one division title, and one playoff game appearance in five-plus seasons.
Sunday’s 33-7 loss to the Patriots was the final straw. Snyder and Allen hightailed out of FedEx Field, ultimately making the decision to fire Gruden.
Gruden thought he was going to be fired following Week 4’s loss to the Giants.
Monday during a press conference, Allen said new interim coach Bill Callahan will run more structured practices with harder work. A huge criticism of Gruden was practices were too relaxed.
“I want to make sure that everybody knows that I actually did work,” Gruden said.
While Gruden understood his didn’t get the job done as the Redskins head coach, he reflected about what could have been if not for the numerous of injuries in recent seasons.
“I can’t remember the last time all my guys played. It’s hard,” Gruden said per John Keim of ESPN. “The majority of our payroll, we paid a lot of money and never had guys on the field. I don’t know if many other teams can say that with so many. Some teams lose a quarterback or a tackle. We lost a quarterback, a tackle, guard, center, wide receiver or running back. That’s not easy to overcome. But we still should have been better on defense and perform better in certain areas. When you’re 0-5, 0-5 coaches don’t last very long.”
