The Redskins savagely scheduled a meeting at 5 a.m. with Jay Gruden to fire him

Everyone knew why the Redskins called the meeting.

The Washington Redskins had little concern for Jay Gruden’s sleep cycle. The team wanted to fire their coach, so they scheduled a meeting at an inhumane hour, 5 a.m., to inform Gruden of the end of his tenure as the Redskins coach, according to the Washington Post.

The paper reported Gruden “knew once he received word late Sunday night of the early Monday meeting that it was almost certainly to discuss his being fired.” Still, he woke up early, drove to the facility and showed up to listen to what owner Dan Snyder had to say. I’ll sum up that conversation: You’re fired.

Why couldn’t Snyder have relayed the message on Sunday after the Redskins’ 33-7 loss to the New England Patriots in Washington? Hard to say. Why couldn’t Snyder have waiting until 7 a.m., a more reasonable hour for a meeting? Again, hard to say.

Of course, this is probably typical in the rigors of the NFL. Many coaches leave the facility late and show up for work early. When the season is underway, some people don’t leave the facility for very long — if at all. And it’s likely that Gruden didn’t sleep much, considering he knew he’d be fired.

The Redskins are replacing Gruden with interim head coach Bill Callahan, who coincidentally replaced Jon Gruden, Jay’s brother, when the Oakland Raiders traded him to the Buccaneers in 2002.

But I can’t help but wonder: Did Gruden’s keycard work when he swiped into the facility in the minutes before 5 a.m.? After all, Gruden said: “If the key works Monday, I’ll keep working.” (And, I know, I’m hardly the first person to make this joke.) Maybe it worked when Gruden arrived, but it’s fair to imagine that key no longer works.