In Joe Gibbs’ second tenure with Washington’s NFL team, the results did not quite match his earlier success. His new squad lacked star power and depth at many key positions, and would come up just short against superior competition to close out the season.

In the post-game press conference, Gibbs would stand at the podium and deliver his combination apology-to-the-fans/media-sound-bite, which was usually:

“Our guys played their guys out today.”

It got me to thinking–he’s exactly right. His team is losing because week-in and week-out, they are playing their guts out. They don’t have anything left for next Sunday because this Sunday, they used up all they had. The great teams in the NFL build up big leads and are able to rest starters. The really bad teams work in younger players to gauge their value moving into next season.

But the brass ring seemed just out of hand’s grasp for Washington. So they battled, and battled, and muddled their way through their schedule to make the playoffs twice, a definite improvement over the previous decade. It eventually wore out Gibbs, and he left after four seasons, and a 30-34 regular-season record.

One is left to wonder, with Gibbs’ acumen, how much farther a healthier team with more talent could have gone.