Zorn Turns Scrutiny Upon Himself

"I think it's not responding to the specific coaching, and we need to be more specific," Zorn said. "We need to notch our game up as coaches, because we're not getting the win."

Until this year, Zorn had never been more than a quarterbacks coach in the NFL. Thus, previous self-critiques have dealt primarily with his performance in relation to one, two or three players. He acknowledged yesterday that he now must evaluate how he deals with 53 players and an entire coaching staff.

"I think that's all a part of me being the major part of this decline is just making sure that I take responsibility for being the head football coach," Zorn said. "I think a lot does fall on my shoulders, and I feel sick to my stomach even thinking about having to go and do this evaluation."

Despite Washington's 6-2 start, five teams -- Dallas, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Chicago -- are ahead of the Redskins in the race for two NFC wild-card playoff spots. To sneak in, the Redskins would not only have to win their remaining two games -- home against Philadelphia and at San Francisco -- but have a slew of other teams lose out.

Given that outlook, both Zorn and players were realistic about the situation. "Basically, all of our goals are gone," tight end Chris Cooley said. Thus, Zorn said he must consider how he addresses the players when they return to work.

"I think they need to hear from me, and they need to know how I feel," he said. "And then, I hope I can have a sense of how they feel, and then we need to get ready.

"Some of life, and I really believe this, is just about making decisions. You make a decision about something, and you got to go hard and play it, regardless of how you feel sometimes. And that's kind of the tough part of life in a lot of situations, and this is one of those for us. We have to decide. . . . We got to make a very objective decision and go."

In a despondent locker room Sunday night, most veterans said they had little choice but to decide to play hard.

"We got to find a way to finish," running back Clinton Portis said.

"It's your job," special teams captain Rock Cartwright said. "You got to go to work."

Less than 24 hours after the most difficult loss of his 14-game career as an NFL head coach, Zorn said he believed his players would do just that. But the thrust of his remarks yesterday seemed to indicate that how he responds is just as, if not more, important.

"I'm deeply concerned, and I want to look internally," Zorn said. "I want to look inside of our coaches. It starts with me. It truly just starts with me. I've got enough to look at myself for the next couple of days to make sure that we can make some moves here to help get this team on the right track."