The Washington Commanders didn't lose to the New York Giants, and yet the result of this Week 5 divisional matchup felt more painful than any loss could have been.
First, the Commanders blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead in a game they'd dominated. Then, after the Giants squandered two scoring opportunities in overtime, all they had to do was set themselves up for a walk-off field goal.
They did exactly that. But once they'd done so, they forgot about the part where they were supposed to actually kick it.
When the Dan Quinn era ends, the Commanders' Week 5 blunder will be the one that did him in
It's the type of decision you just don't come back from as a coach already on the hot seat.
Head coach Dan Quinn isn't going to get fired this week, and probably not until the end of the season. But unless the Commanders can miraculously turn their ship around, he'll be gone in January.
And Sunday's outcome will prove to be the moment it all jumped the shark.
It all started out so wonderfully for the former Atlanta Falcons bench boss, who reached the NFC Championship in his first season in Washington. Then, after last year's 5-12 disaster, the honeymoon was over, and this season was his chance to save his job.
He hired new coordinators on both sides of the ball. They've both had their moments thus far. But Sunday's clock mismanagement falls squarely on two people, and you can forgive Jayden Daniels after what was otherwise a masterful performance from the third-year quarterback.
Quinn, on the other hand? There's just no excuse for someone as experienced as him to not be aware of the situation the Commanders were in.
And it's only the latest of a series of frustrating trends that have led us to this point.
Commanders' meltdown against the Giants might be the straw that broke the camel's back for Dan Quinn
A lack of discipline has persisted throughout the past two seasons for the Commanders. They're not getting production from young players because Quinn isn't giving them chances. And their constant lapses on defense — his specialist side of the ball — haven't exactly been fixed under new coordinator Daronte Jones.
You always hesitate to be too harsh on coaches because of how unrewarding their job is. They take all of the blame and get none of the credit, and every flaw is always considered fireable.
There's zero nuance from fans who will turn on a dime and demand everything gets blown up at the slightest hint of adversity.
But this is no longer a slight hint.
It's a full calendar year's worth of bad football, dating back to Week 6 of last year. The Commanders are 3-13-1 in that span. They had a full offseason to address everything that went wrong in 2025, and the improvements have been marginal.
Quinn should always be appreciated to an extent in Washington for what the team accomplished in 2024. Ultimately, though, we must remember that he wasn't even close to being the Commanders' first choice.
And there was a reason for that.
Most coaches are hired to be fired. Whether they're utter and complete failures or flashes in the pan who fall back to Earth after fleeting success, they all meet the same fate one way or another. Quinn is the latter, but right now, he's leaving Washington with no choice.
Week 5 of the 2026 season will go down as a microcosm of the entire Quinn era in Washington.
It wasn't a loss, but it wasn't a win either.
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