The Commanders have reached a crossroads in Ron Rivera’s tenure

What went wrong in the Rivera era?

Ron Rivera’s task in rebuilding the Commanders was anything but easy. In just the first 9 months on the job, he had a litany of personal, organizational, and worldwide issues occur that were out of his control. Add that on top of taking over one of the worst rosters in the NFL and the deck was fully stacked against Rivera.

Rivera also did an admirable job getting a roster with multiple holes, to be feisty, win seven games, and claim a division title in a weak division in 2020. The coaching staff completely maximized that roster.

Since then, though, they have not improved. Instead, much has remained the same. Washington’s lack of success and competitiveness can be a tad perplexing. Rivera has been one of the more well-respected, rock-solid coaches in the entire NFL over the last decade.

There are multiple reasons he hasn’t worked though and most notably it starts with the revolving door at quarterback. While that is not all his fault, he made the decision to not trade up for one in the 2021 NFL Draft and elected to take Jamin Davis instead, so he is still dealing with the consequences of that decision.

Secondly, his talent evaluation skills just don’t seem to be up-to-par or innovative enough for 2022’s version of the NFL. Dan Snyder elected to go with a “coach-centric” approach with a coach who was largely inconsistent and mediocre.

Turns out Rivera is much of the same at talent evaluation. There have been some hits for Rivera certainly, especially in the draft. However, their approach in free agency has been poor. The star signings largely haven’t worked out. And their pool of players they use for depth remain the same. The depth guys for the Commanders continually seem to be the same in rotation.

It is year three and Jon Bostic is still on the team. Danny Johnson is on the practice squad and a few injuries away from being on the field again. Jeremy Reaves is still on the team. Troy Apke has stuck around. The Commanders may become reliant upon Tyler Larsen, less than a year removed from rupturing his Achilles, snapping the ball to Carson Wentz.

It is year three, and the same rotation of the underperforming James Smith-Williams and Casey Toohill is here. Never worry, though, Rivera can fill that spot in with former Panther Efe Obada. Or former Panthers Trai Turner and Andrew Norwell, who have both vastly underperformed. Rivera is too reliant on familiarity with his free agent signings, the talent pool he sorts through, and his coaching staff. Not surprisingly, the results are mostly the same.

And eventually, when roster spots need to be filled for depth or necessity, the strategy has been to sign rookies as developmental flyers this year. In year three Rivera is taking the “developmental” approach instead of signing veterans that can make an impact right away.

Meanwhile, the Ravens signed Jason Pierre-Paul, who made an instant impact for the Ravens Sunday Night against the Bengals.

Thirdly, Rivera struggles to manage the clock and other in-game situations. He called a timeout with under a minute left in the first half Sunday. On the next play, he didn’t call his second one as the clock ticked under 20 seconds before the Titans took a 14-10 lead. Instead of having a chance to steal points at the end of the half, Washington was forced to kneel. Add that to his odd decision to basically throw a timeout away on his challenge of the Cam Sims no-catch in the second half, he continually puts the team in bad situations with his game management.

Place all of that on top of the fact that the pressure is seemingly mounting on Rivera. His answers change weekly at the podium, and he deflects most of the blame onto the team. A few weeks ago it was Jamin Davis, then it was the secondary, then it was the offensive line. This week the team isn’t good because Carson Wentz is new to the system. Who knows what he will place the blame on next week?

And the bottom line is Rivera built this roster. The criticizing of this roster only puts more egg on his face because he is the master constructor of the 2022 Washington Commanders.

Rivera has done a number of good things for the franchise. He provides it with respectability, his players (and former ones too) love playing for him, and the roster has gotten better. If Rivera is eventually let go, the cupboard won’t be as bare as he started with.

Unfortunately, though, Rivera seems far too concerned about culture and less about accruing talented, game-changing football players. The NFC East is beginning to lap the Commanders and before they dig too steep of a hole, they need to start seriously considering moving on from Rivera.