There’s a joke going around Washington. Seems the police are cracking down on crime. If they catch you, you get 2 tickets to a Redskins game and you’re forced to attend.

In a football season already filled with debacles, the Redskins management has made some truly impressive errors. In the latest installment, they took away Coach Zorn’s ability to call the plays and handed that responsibility over to their new “offensive consultant”.

OK, so they’ve lost confidence in the coach. Got it. But is removing his duties piece-meal really the way to go? Does anyone actually believe that it’s Zorn’s play-calling that’s at fault?

And what does Zorn do, in response to this public spanking?

He swallows it and marches bravely onward.

Seriously, coach, is saying, “I’ll comply” the best you can do?

Here’s what I think. The Redskins have more problems than can be solved by an “offensive consultant”, or even a new coach. If I were Zorn, and my boss was openly shopping for a new coach as Dan Snyder is, and he called me into his office and said, “I’m taking away your ability to call the plays and giving that responsibility to someone else”, I wouldn’t meekly go along. That way lies total humiliation.

I’d say, “I’m the head coach. I make the decisions.  I call the plays. If you don’t want to let me coach, then fire me. But I won’t “pretend” to coach just to save face.”

If Zorn had done that, would he have been fired?

Almost certainly.

But he’d be leaving with his self-respect intact, and showing Dan Snyder what real leadership is. And the Redskins organization, from top to bottom, is badly in need of some true leadership.