Does Joe Gibbs match up to his Hall of Fame self?

For only the third time since he retired the first time, the Washington Redskins are heading back to the playoffs under the direction of Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs. Now there is no doubt in my mind that what Gibbs did in his first tenure with the team qualifies him as a Hall of Famer however anyone who feels the second time around has been as good as the first is just kidding themselves.

But before you go accusing me of saying Gibbs is not a good coach, I want to take an in depth, impartial look at how "The Return of the King," as the Washington Post dubbed his coming out of retirement, has really gone.

First and foremost, Gibbs is the best coach we have had since his retirement. He is the only coach to take us to the playoffs twice, and other than Norv Turner's one playoff year, he is the only coach to post a winning season since then too.

But the one question I have is if Gibbs wasn't who he is, would he have lasted this long at the helm?

His overall record in 4 years (not including the playoffs) is 30-34 and he has losing seasons of 6-10 and 5-11. I think it would be fair to assume that he would have been a coach on the hot seat heading into the season and that he may have even been out of a job in the AFC by midseason. So it sure was nice for him to have the reputation he did.

However, looking past measureables such as records and statistics, it is apparent that Gibbs was the right guy to have in charge this year. It seems that his personality and experience have been invaluable in dealing with the scores of injuries and tragedies the team faced this year and his positive outlook made it possible to rally the Skins and earn the final playoff spot.

And as Washington gets ready for Saturday's game, you have to feel confident knowing that with Gibbs at the helm the Skins should be able to beat Seattle, especially after the year in which the Seahawks have had.

So while media pundits and reporters outside of DC continue to argue whether the game has passed Gibbs by, I feel confident in knowing that he is the one in charge on Saturday. After all, we could be stuck with Norv or Steve Spurrier.