Mike Shanahan: Is It Playoffs or Bust for Washington Redskins Head Coach?

Playoffs or bust?

That's the big question facing former two-time Super Bowl winner Mike Shanahan as he prepares for his third season as Washington Redskins head coach. The answer is not straightforward, regardless of whether a person is a fan of Shanahan's tenure or not.

From a numbers standpoint, a meager 11 wins in two years indicates that Shanahan is on the hot seat. However, whether or not a third season of mediocrity should result in his dismissal depends largely on a response to the contrasting spin applied to Shanahan's reign in D.C.

Despite the expectation and history of the Redskins franchise, Shanahan has been afforded an almost unprecedented leniency when it comes to results. Despite managing one fewer victory than the woeful Jim Zorn, Shanahan has succeeded in keeping alive the promise of some great, not too distant future.

This notion that the Redskins must lose now in order to pave the way for sustained glories in the future has been largely accepted. Shanahan has perpetuated this idea by stating that the job is bigger than he first realised—hardly a comforting endorsement of his evaluative skills (via CSN Washington).

After the 2011 campaign had descended into farce, Shanahan maintained he had insisted all along that rebuilding the Redskins will take a five-year plan (via the  Washington Post).

This promise of bright days ahead has allowed Shanahan to largely escape criticism for making a hash of the Redskins quarterback situation not once, but twice.

Despite imposing systems on personnel ill-equipped to play them, Shanahan has often been heralded for building the so-called "right way." This "right way" is said to involve a rather uncomfortable over-emphasis on "high character" and an almost pathological insistence on building through youth.

Shanahan has worked magic by constantly moving the parameters for success one step further away each time. However, rejecting the Shanahan doctrine is only one side of the argument.

An examination of the youth policy shows positive results. Shanahan has certainly overhauled his roster and there is youthful talent at key positions. The Redskins have used the draft very well in the last two years, but Shanahan's legitimate claim to success may be in free-agency.

Shanahan has certainly succeeded—for the most part—in changing the kind of player the Redskins target in free agency. Rather than pursuing players with the highest price tags, or those who have had one stellar season of production, Washington now covets dependable athletes with a consistent record of solid production.

Players like Barry Cofield and Josh Wilson exemplify the kind of recruitment criteria Shanahan has emphasized. People may criticize the Redskins for supposedly overpaying for wide receivers Pierre Garcon and Josh Morgan.

However, few can argue they are talented pass catchers whose best years are still to come. They may not be No.1 receivers yet, but the tangible potential is there.

So far this debate has offered points equally in favor of and against Shanahan's future in Washington. What complicates the issue further is the trade for Robert Griffin III.

Traditionally when a coach acquires a rookie, prospective franchise quarterback, he is afforded the luxury of a transition period to properly develop his young passer. However, those 6-10 and 5-11 records make Shanahan's situation unique.

He has already used up his transition time and may come to regret not opting to draft a quarterback in his first season. Yet allowing Shanahan to engineer a deal that has given away first-round picks in the next two drafts implies a willingness to let coach and quarterback develop together.

One argument against a rookie quarterback granting Shanahan extra time at the helm is that rookie signal-callers no longer take as long as they once did to win in the pros. Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco both took their teams to the postseason in 2008 and Andy Dalton and T.J. Yates repeated the feat in 2011.

However, this expectation could create a situation where Griffin is under a pressure too great to bear on a team already desperate enough for a playmaker at quarterback.

So where does that leave Shanahan? 

Even with a rookie QB, a winning season is a must

Like it or not, trading away so much to land Griffin does put the pressure on for him to deliver right away. It is also a sign of Shanahan's own acknowledgement that he needs results now.

If the Redskins are only a quarterback short of competing, then that need should be answered by now. If Griffin flops, Shanahan has to pay the price.

That's not to say that whatever good things he has done should then be abandoned in favor of a fresh rebuilding project. If it is accepted that Shanahan has put the right building blocks in place and established a foundation for winning without the results to match, then a new coach may fare better.

Yet if Shanahan can produce a winner with a rookie at the helm, that would be enough to buy the coach another year to find out just how far Griffin could take the Redskins.