Dan Quinn cut a somber figure after the Washington Commanders suffered an embarrassing blowout loss to the Minnesota Vikings. And his comments to the media following a long wait were his biggest self-indictment yet.
Just when Quinn thought the tide might be turning for his squad, they fluffed their lines in the most embarrassing way imaginable. His "we were lost, but we're not lost anymore" locker room speech that found its way onto HBO docuseries Hard Knocks came back to haunt him. And now, the Commanders have lost eight straight with a top-five draft pick firmly in the team's grasp.
Quinn read his players the riot act after the game. They looked unmotivated and like they wanted to be anywhere else but U.S. Bank Stadium. That's unacceptable, and the coach didn't have much good to say in the immediate aftermath of the defeat.
Dan Quinn felt completely let down by Commanders' inept showing at the Vikings
The former Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator felt their overtime loss to the Denver Broncos was a step forward. However, this inept showing against the Vikings, who'd only won four games this season before the Commanders gifted them another, couldn't be seen as anything other than several steps back.
"Oftentimes you stand here after a loss and you try to find something good that you want to point to. But tonight, honestly, I (can’t). … Tonight, to me, none of it was acceptable. Baffling, frustrating, enraged, all of that comes into play."Dan Quinn via The Athletic
That's a fair assessment, in all honesty. But when the players aren't executing over this length of time and look completely unprepared without the fire that propelled the Commanders to the NFC Championship game last season, that's also on coaching.
The spark is missing, and that goes for everybody. The catchy slogans and talk about culture don't hold as much weight these days. There is no danger of Quinn losing his job right now, but if Washington cannot pick up a couple of wins before the season's end, there will rightfully be an internal investigation into how this went so wrong.
Quinn seems to be running out of ideas. Nothing he's tried to get things trending up has worked. And as for his handling of the situation involving franchise quarterback Jayden Daniels? Let's say that not everybody is thrilled, although it's hard to argue that he doesn't have the player's best interests at heart.
There's been very little to cheer for the Commanders this season. Quinn is as fed up as the rest of us. But the difference is that he is expected to do something about it.
And he's coming up short.