The Washington Commanders lost yet again in the NFL's inaugural Madrid game. The Miami Dolphins handed them their sixth defeat in a row, dropping them to a dismal 3-8 on the season.
Unlike the previous several contests, the Commanders had a chance. Had a few key plays gone differently, Washington likely would have pulled out the win. Head coach Dan Quinn's takeover of the defensive coordinator duties seemed to spark the unit, albeit against a below-average opponent.
The offense, on the other hand, struggled to execute. As has been the case for much of the year, a lot of this falls on the one person on the Commanders' coaching staff who has somehow managed to escape criticism.
Commanders' offense was stagnant, and that's on Kliff Kingsbury
The Commanders had two late drives in regulation with a chance to effectively seal the win. Both times, offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury cost them dearly.
First, Washington drove to a goal-to-go scenario from the five-yard line after a Marcus Mariota 44-yard scramble put them in prime scoring position. Kingsbury proceeded to call three consecutive runs for minimal gain, two of which were straight up the middle.
The Commanders then went for it on fourth down, with Mariota throwing an incompletion intended for Zach Ertz. This was a play Washington has run to a nearly perfect success rate, but the quarterback and tight end weren't on the same page in this instance. That's not Kingsbury's fault, but the fact that it wasn't called on first or second down is.
Instead of taking what should have been a touchdown lead, the score stayed tied at 13. The Commanders were able to stop the Dolphins twice, including an impressive goal-line stand of their own after Mike Sainristil muffed a punt return, and Washington got the ball back with one more shot at a game-winning score.
They effortlessly made it past midfield, but then Kingsbury overthought himself once again. On first down from the Miami 40-yard line, he called for a Jeremy McNichols run that gained only two yards but did successfully take 32 precious seconds off the clock. Then, after an incompletion to Robbie Chosen on the next play, he inexplicably dialed up a home-run ball to Chris Moore on third down that never had a chance.
The Commanders only needed to get inside field goal range, which, in fairness, probably meant the outskirts of the red zone to be safe for Matt Gay. Instead, they had to bring him out for a 56-yarder, and the result was predictable.
Kingsbury wasn't the only reason Washington lost, but he certainly contributed.
Mariota was dealing in the short passing game, and all the Commanders had to do on their final drive of regulation was keep picking up chunks of 10 to 15 yards at a time. Before that, they needed one completion in four attempts at the goal line on their previous drive.
They couldn't do it because their offensive play caller didn't put them in a position to. At the end of the day, they scored 13 points against a defense that had previously given up an average of 25.6 per game. That is unacceptable.
For all the blame that's been tossed around during the Commanders' losing streak, let's make sure Kingsbury doesn't get let off the hook as he has so often this season.
He needs to spend his bye week doing some overdue soul-searching.