During an interview prior to the 2010 season, Snyder said something to the effect of "as long as I have Joe Gibbs or Mike Shanahan as my head coach, I don't have to worry as much.."
I think the "relative" success of Gibbs in his second stint with the two playoff appearances made Snyder think that all he was going to need to do was pay a lot of money to a pedigree coach and the team would be back in the playoffs in no time. Despite Shanahan's protest that he was going to need five full years to get the team rolling, one has to think that Snyder thought that the Skins would have success relatively quickly.
I think Snyder is absolutely stunned that Shanahan hasn't been able to deliver in the W-L column so far. And it will be interesting to see what factors go into Dan's decision regarding Mike in the next season or two, whether it be how we finish the 2012 campaign, the $18 million cap penalty that has to be served next season, etc. However, I think the experience may be a positive one for this team going forward, as it will perhaps "de-emphasize" the head coach position in Snyder's mind, and instead highlight the bigger picture issues of the proper way to build a team.