Three days ago, it looked like Jim Fassel would be the next head coach of the Redskins.  Two days ago, it all changed, in a surprising way.

Count Fassel among the perplexed.

“This is a shock to me,” Fassel told Clark Judge of CBSSports.com.

“It’s a long, twisted story,” Fassel added. 

“There was something going on behind the scenes, there’s no question about it.  I thought things were falling my way, then, suddenly, this happens.  It’s strange.”

The condensed version?  Fassel thinks that Executive V.P. of Football Operations Vinny Cerrato promoted Zorn behind the scenes, and that Cerrato GENERALLY doesn’t know what he’s doing.

“Dan [Snyder] wanted to make a big splash, and I think he was worried about the Baltimore thing,” Fassel said, referring to his termination from the Ravens during the 2006 season.  “He worried about the public relations, and he didn’t know which way to go.

“I heard someone say there are no more George Youngs or Jim Finks in this league, people who really know the game.  And I think that happened here.  I don’t think Dan surrounded himself with enough football people.”

Though Fassel probably is right, he is doing himself no favors (in our view) by complaining about the situation.  The practical reality is that, moving forward, other teams will be leery of doing the dance with him for fear of having to suffer the spray from his sour grapes.

Speaking of sour grapes, Fassel also takes a dig at the man who got the job, Jim Zorn.

“Someone said to me that Jim Zorn has three jobs he hasn’t done now,” Fassel said.  “He’s a head coach, and he’s never done it.  He’s an offensive coordinator, and he’s never done it.  And he’s calling the plays, and he’s never done it.”

The difference between Zorn and Fassel, however, is that Zorn has a job.  Fassel doesn’t, and his decision to talk publicly about it (compelling as it may be) might be the final straw that prevents him from ever becoming an NFL head coach again.