Want some cold, hard facts? OK, here they are: Since they moved to Washington in 1937, the Redskins have lost their first two games 14 times.
Only two of those teams finished with a winning record.
Only one made the playoffs.
Both were coached by Joe Gibbs (the 1984 club, which finished 11-5 and lost its first playoff game, and the '85 club, which went 10-6 and just missed the postseason).
More often than not, 0-2 turned into 0-3 (1951 and '56) or 0-4 ('64) or 0-5 ('54, '65, '81, '01) or 0-7 ('98) or 0-9 ('61). Translation: Things don't usually get better after the Redskins drop their first two games, they get worse.
This is the situation Zorn finds himself in - the same one, interestingly, Norv Turner faced in his first year in '94. Turner's Redskins got stomped at home by the Seahawks (who would end up 6-10) in their opener, then went on the road to play, yes, the Saints in Week 2. Fortunately for Norv, Brian Mitchell had one of his greatest games that day, returning a punt 74 yards for a touchdown and running back a kickoff 86 yards to set up another score, to help the new coach avoid the dreaded 0-2 start.
article...
http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/sep/11/a-must-win-situation/
