Count your blessings, Washington Commanders and football fans. The nightmare is over. You can now look forward to a full slate of Sunday football. In order to cleanse your palette’s, might we suggest Chiefs-Bills and Cowboys-Eagles. Honestly? Watch anything that doesn’t involve the Broncos and you’ll be good.
OK, back to the matter at hand.
This was a rare win that didn’t cause for celebration. It took a muffed punt in the red zone for Washington to defeat the hapless Bears in primetime. If not for Tress Way’s cannon for a right leg and Christian Holmes wrestling the ball away from Velus Jones Jr., we’d be discussing a fifth-straight loss for Ron Rivera’s side.
The “a win is a win” slogan doesn’t apply here. The Commanders’ season is saved, but only for the time being. This was the easiest game remaining on the schedule and it took a quasi-miracle for them to pull it off.
The Commanders are one of the worst teams in the NFL and it’s officially time for the front office to embrace a fire sale before the trade deadline.
3 reasons Commanders should start a fire sale after TNF
3. Barely beat the Bears/Time to think about 2023 draft
It’s time, folks.
The Commanders needed a cavalcade of Bears errors to win this game. This victory does nothing to alter the course of the 2022 season. Velus Jones’ muffed punt, Justin Fields missing a wide-open receiver in the red zone in the first half and countless dropped passes from Bears wideouts in the fourth quarter, culminating in Darnell Mooney’s juggling effort on the final play, decided this game.
Look at the stats. Chicago out-gained Washington by over 100 yards, Justin Fields out-gained Carson Wentz through the air, the Bears won the time of possession battle handily and Washington had seven penalties to Chicago’s four.
It’s just impossible to envision the Commanders winning more than five games. Assuming teams like the Steelers, Raiders and Lions figure things out, Washington should be in contention for a top-five pick. Only the Panthers and Texans are on a worse trajectory than the Commanders. That’s just the facts.
Maybe Rivera sparks a second half turnaround again, but nothing we watched Thursday night suggests that’s possible. Headed for another playoff-less season and last-place finish in the formidable NFC East, it’s time for the Commanders to follow their fans’ lead and turn their attention to the 2023 draft.
Time to break out the film on CJ Stroud, Bryce Young and Will Levis.
2. The coaching isn’t good enough
We’ll keep this one brief. Ron Rivera and his coaching staff, including offensive and defensive coordinators Scott Turner and Jack Del Rio have been under fire for the team’s performance. By now, it’s abundantly clear this isn’t the group to lead Washington into the future.
While the jury is still out on Turner — Rivera and Del Rio have markedly longer track records — it speaks volumes about Turner’s ceiling as a play-caller that he can’t find ways to get his best playmakers the football. Midway through the second quarter, Terry McLaurin and Curtis Samuel combined for one touch.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Commanders were flagged for too many men on the field twice in the same game. That doesn’t happen. Ever. To add insult to injury, Washington allowed a 40-yard touchdown from Justin Fields to Dante Pettis (!) on the second of those flags. Just flat-out embarrassing. And on a must-have stop late in the game, the defense only had 10 men on the field.
Yes, Kendall Fuller got beat on the TD, but these flags are just three of a laundry list of examples that prove Rivera and Del Rio are in over their heads. No reason to keep investing in this regime, so might as well sell off some pieces for draft capital.
1. Carson Wentz is too inconsistent to win
Sometimes, consistent quarterback play can overcome bad coaching. It’s rare, but quarterbacks can keep teams afloat in spite of bad coaching. It was clear before this season that Carson Wentz isn’t that caliber of signal-caller and Thursday night served as an untimely, but fresh reminder that he’s too inconsistent to win at a high level.
It’s worth noting Wentz was battling a strained bicep tendon on his throwing arm and a bruised/mangled finger after a gruesome collision. Could Wentz’s poor accuracy be attributed to those injuries? Perhaps, but we’ve seen the 29-year-old’s accuracy betray him on countless occasions this year before Week 6.
You can also play the offensive line card as an excuse for Wentz, but go rewatch the game and count how many misfires he had. How many times he coiled up in the face of pressure and missed WIDE open receivers. This isn’t a reactionary take from an embarrassing team performance against lesser competition, either.
Wentz has struggled to find consistent form all season. For every 300-yard, two touchdown performance he has against the Titans and Lions, he has a 200-yard, multi-turnover game with less than 5.0 yards per attempt and a sub-60% completion rate in big division games against the Eagles and Cowboys.
Whatever Wentz’s ceiling is at this stage of his career, he isn’t reaching it behind this offensive line. Pressure brings out the worst in Wentz and he’s in contention for the most-sacked quarterback in the league after six games.
Not opposed to the idea of giving Sam Howell some run later in the season once the playoffs are definitely out of the picture.