The Washington Commanders' 2025 season is all but over, with four straight losses dropping them to 3-6 and Jayden Daniels on the shelf yet again.
Everybody has taken the blame for it, from general manager Adam Peters to head coach Dan Quinn and the players on the field. Yet there remains one person who has inexplicably avoided criticism.
While all the focus has been on the woeful defense and Daniels' struggles to stay on the field, Kliff Kingsbury's offense has put up 21 points in the past two games. Apparently, that's everybody else's fault.
Radio host leaps to Kliff Kingsbury's defense amid Commanders' offensive flaws
Radio host Kevin Sheehan from The Team 980 sounded off on Washington's offensive struggles, citing turnovers and penalties as the primary catalysts for the slump. In his words, Kingsbury "can't overcome" these mistakes.
You can blame Kliff all you want, but 'he's working with very little right now,' and @kevinsheehanDC says he has a lot of other team issues to overcome, too. pic.twitter.com/Yh5peHEiSz
— The Team 980 (@team980) November 4, 2025
Sheehan is correct on one front: Kingsbury can't overcome such deficits. A better offensive coordinator might be able to, but not him.
His play-calling is one-dimensional. Kingsbury's scheme is prone to being figured out, and if he has to coach from behind, he has no answers.
Throughout Washington's losing streak, the run game that dominated earlier in the campaign has been nonexistent. Wide receivers have been unable to create separation, and there has been little effort to open up the deep passing attack. The turnovers and penalties aren't his fault, but regardless, Kingsbury is not scheming his players into positions to succeed.
His flaws have been especially apparent in Daniels' stalled development. Even when the quarterback has been on the field, life has been much more complicated for the Commanders' franchise player than it was last year. He's been forced to do everything all by himself, working in a stale offense that hasn't made any adjustments.
In the Commanders' loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday Night Football, Sam Darnold got whatever he wanted against Washington's defense. Somebody was open, usually for chunk yardage, on nearly every play. His four touchdown passes went to Tory Horton (twice), Cody White, and Elijah Arroyo — not exactly household names.
Contrast that with the Commanders' strategy, which often revolves around dumping it off to tight end Zach Ertz or wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr. for minimal gains, and it's impossible to defend Kingsbury.
Good offensive coordinators find ways to get everybody involved and keep the ball moving even when circumstances set them back. Kingsbury isn't doing that.
And it's a problem.