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| - In 1993 Joe Gibbs and the Skins returned to action after Gibbs toyed with the idea of retiring... In the 1993 season Gibbs guided the Skins to a 9-7 season and wild-card berth in the playoffs... Beating the Lions by the score of 27-13 in the first game, they would take on rival Dallas, the defending Superbowl Champion in the Divisional round... They would come up losers 14-21. The following season they improved to 10-6 but again finished second in the division to Dallas. Their opponent in the first round of the playoffs would be a Bret Favre led Green Bay Packers who would crush Washington 20-3 and so their season would end prematurely... In 1995 the Skins would miss the playoffs for the first time in three years as they would finish the season 8-8. Gibbs would again toy with the idea of retiring but would put it on the backburner for another time. 1996 marked Washington's best season since their Superbowl year going 13-3 and earning a second seed in the playoffs. They would host Carolina who won their first playoff game over Minnesota the week before, 21-13. It would be close but in the end Washington would pull out a win, 16-10 and advance to the NFC Championship... There they would face a Green Bay Packers team that was not just the team that had eliminated them two years prior but also, the defending Superbowl Champions! Washington would fall but not like they did two years prior, Washington would fall 20-27 in the fourth quarter... 1997 saw the Skins match their previous record and return to the playoffs, this time as a three seed and taking on Detroit in the wild-card round of the playoffs. In that game Washington would fall behind early and never be able to bounce back losing 17-37 and another season would come to a premature end. Gibbs would sign a three year deal for the 98' season before guiding Washington to an 8-8 record and missing the playoffs for the second time in four years... Despite that setback the Skins would improve to 12-4 the following season and earn the second seed in the NFC playoffs. Their opponent would be a mighty Minnesota Vikings team who had beaten Detroit 38-20 the week before... Washing would just not have enough to match the Vikings punch for punch as Minnesota would come out the victor, 37-17 ending the Skins season... Before the start of the 2000 season Gibbs would announce that his twentieth year would be his last with the Skins, that he would devote his full attention to his stock car dreams... That season Washington would finish with a 14-2 record and the number one seed in the playoffs. The Skins wanted to send Gibbs off in the sunset with another Superbowl ring... It just was not to be however as the Skins would fall to rival Philadelphia by a score of 9-20 ending the Joe Gibbs era in Washington... Dan Snyder would hire Marty Schottenheimer as coach and the team would never be the same...
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