Dan Quinn’s fourth-down defense reignites calls for Commanders to fire him

The Washington Commanders' second-half fightback against the San Francisco 49ers may have saved head coach Dan Quinn's job. But he still faced scrutiny for what looked like another inept display of in-game management in the first half.

With the Commanders going for it on fourth down, quarterback Jayden Daniels threw it away. Quinn was spotted on the sidelines saying "field goal" before seemingly realizing that Washington was out of chances on this drive.

And the fury on his face spoke volumes.

Dan Quinn's reasoning to contentious Commanders fourth-down call didn't wash with everybody

After last weekend's botched overtime sequence, scathing criticism quickly arrived on social media. The evidence was right there for everyone to see, and given how Quinn said nothing like the New York Giants catastrophe would happen again, history seemed to repeat itself the very next week.

As expected, Quinn was asked about the incident during his post-game media availability.

The coach was adamant he knew it was fourth down. He mentioned a potential field goal when someone asked whether the illegal shift changed their outlook on that drive.

And that's all there was to it.

"I definitely knew it was fourth down. We were going for it, and I think with the illegal shift, there is not a penalty to go for a field goal. Like, it's the turn(over) on downs, I think somebody had asked me."

Make of that what you will.

But based on social media reactions from fans and analysts, the excuse didn't hold up.

Commanders fans weren't buying Dan Quinn's fourth-down excuse

The evidence speaks for itself. Quinn took his stance, but his body language right after the play didn't match his reasoning.

And why would Daniels throw the ball away?

He was living to fight another day. Except there wasn't one.

With the Week 5 calamity still on everyone's mind, it's easy to see why people are rushing to conclusions. We can only take Quinn at his word, but the stuttering and struggling to get through his response didn't exactly have the conviction he was hoping for.

This was enough for the calls to fire Quinn to resurface. But again, it doesn't seem likely that majority owner Josh Harris will get rid of the coach in-season.

That isn't his style.

Had the Commanders capitulated in a second-half blowout, Quinn would have been in a much more precarious situation. But they showed real character, staying the course and performing much better after the break.

That was one positive to take from the contest, but this is a results business.

The NFC East is a mess right now. Nobody has won for the last two weeks. Washington is propping up the division, but Quinn's men are not out of the running yet. That's another reason why Harris will probably stand pat, but the pressure is undoubtedly building.

Whether you believe Quinn or not is moot. The only opinions that matter are Harris, general manager Adam Peters, and maybe even Bob Myers. Anything else is speculation and projections without full knowledge of what's going on in the building.

But this is a situation Quinn could have done without.

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