What do you get when you take a trigger-happy young shot, add a nearly unbreakable piggy bank, and give him one of the most storied NFL franchises of all time? I’ll give you a hint – it is definitely not a Super Bowl.

Weeks after the Washington Redskins handed the Detroit Lions their first win in nearly two years, gave the Kansas City Chiefs their third win in their last 31 games, and have officially given each winless team they have played their first win, the ‘Skins are in trouble. NFL analysts are in a frenzy debating whether the current Redskins head coach, Jim Zorn, is going to last the season. There’s no question that Zorn is on the chopping block; the question now is not if, but when current owner Dan Snyder is going to send the Redskins’ head coach packing. Yesterday, Vinny Cerrato, Snyder’s right-hand lackey and Redskins GM, announced Zorn’s offensive play-calling duty would now be stripped and delegated to Sherman Lewis. The move was clearly the first step to get rid of Zorn. With Snyder’s proneness for coach shopping and lack of patience, and with such big names unattached to teams at the moment (Bill Cowher and Mike Shanahan, for instance), Snyder is probably antsy to make a quick move.

To Zorn’s credit, he should never have been thrust into the position. First of all, Zorn came in following the second retirement of Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs (a living legend in Redskins nation); whoever came in was going to be heavily scrutinized by the fans. And second, Snyder originally signed Zorn as the Redskins new offensive coordinator, not the head coach. Two weeks later, Snyder promoted Zorn to head coach, after he was unable to find a better replacement (either because Snyder found faults with the other candidates, or his top picks refused to move to Washington and work for him). It was a Dan Snyder curveball that all Redskins fans are becoming accustomed to: one involving money, a Snyder premonition, and almost no evidence of potential success. Past moves included signing Deion Sanders, luring Steve Spurrier from Florida, and more recently, signing Albert Haynesworth for a $100 million contract (though Haynesworth is an absolute superstar, he has underperformed and been riddled with minor injuries; he's hardly worth one of the biggest deals in the history of the NFL). At this point, I’m not even sure if Snyder cares about winning anymore. He has one goal that drives all his decisions – milking the Redskins for as much money as he possibly can.

Though my generation is too young to remember the days of Washington football yore, a time when Joe Theismann and John Riggins ruled the field and the loyal “Hogettes” never missed a beat, I imagine it was a much warmer time. The team was not just good, they were good. Fans felt like they were a part of something greater than themselves, something like a family. But after the passing of beloved owner Jack Kent Cooke, the era of the Redskins family was finished, and the era of the Redskins business began. Snyder was a young, rich marketing mogul with a taste for Sunday afternoons. For a brief moment, Redskins fans thought he might be able to infuse a bit of youth into a stagnant franchise stuck in the glory days. Within the first month, Snyder had already sold out – the Redskins stadium no longer acted as a tribute to the work Cooke had put into the team. Jack Kent Cooke Stadium went to the highest bidder, and FedEx Field was born.

All professional teams are a business. Without enough money, NFL organizations will fall apart, be forced to sell assets, and even possibly move to another city. The fact that the Redskins have the second-highest payroll in the NFL means that Dan Snyder knows how to maintain a business. Unfortunately for Redskins fans, Dan Snyder doesn’t know much about maintaining a family.

A few months ago, a small percentage of annual season-tickets holders had to forfeit their tickets after they could no longer afford them. Despite the hard economic times, Snyder actually filed suit against the contract forfeiters. In the midst of an economic recession, Snyder is actually suing his team’s fans because they would rather pay their heating bill than go to every single home game (with a lucky 2-4 record, who the hell could blame them?). And these fans weren’t just any fans; they were the most loyal fans in the stadium. The few who went to every single game, regardless of how meaningless.

The man is heartless. He sees every single person who walks through his ticket booths as a paycheck. He has filled his staff with pushovers and yes-men, all in an effort to completely control all aspects of the team. Any head coach with a sense of self-respect would have difficulty coming to Washington and dealing with Snyder’s spoiled attitude; just take a look at the quick exits of Marty Schottenheimer, Steve Spurrier, and Joe Gibbs. The NFL analysts are finally beginning to realize that the problem in Washington is not the coaches or the players. It’s definitely not the fans. It comes from on high: Dan Snyder is killing the Redskins.