Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn seems to be living on borrowed time after Week 5's overtime debacle against the New York Giants. But that still doesn't mean the team will make a knee-jerk reaction and fire him right now, as many fans have demanded.
The Commanders are 3-13-1 in their past 17 games dating back to last season. The consistent lack of discipline, game-management issues, and underperformance on defense — Quinn's side of the ball — may ultimately undo a tenure that started so promisingly in 2024.
But Josh Harris and company aren't going to fire Quinn now. And if they did, it would only create more problems than it solves.
Commanders have no in-house succession plan if Dan Quinn is let go
When you have two first-year play-callers at both coordinator positions, it's pretty difficult to promote either of them as an interim head coach. David Blough and Daronte Jones are both still in the learning process of their current roles; they don't need to be saddled with a billion more responsibilities.
Quinn hired Blough and Jones. Assuming he's out in January, both of them have to be under close watch by the organization to see if they're worth keeping in the building at all costs. The best way to evaluate them is to let the season play out the way it was intended to.
And who else on the Commanders' staff is going to step in?
Running backs coach Anthony Lynn? He wasn't a good head coach with the Los Angeles Chargers, who had more talent than Washington does now.
Worse yet, let's say Washington fires Quinn, and the interim strings together a few wins with a lighter schedule during the second half of the season. Now you'll have people wanting to keep that guy next year, which almost never works.
Commanders waving the white flag would send the wrong message
If the Commanders fire Quinn during the season, the message it would send is one of defeat.
Washington spent all summer trying to build a team that would compete for the playoffs this year. Giving up on that after five or six weeks would show a lack of trust in their own vision.
We're already seeing rumors that star wide receiver Terry McLaurin could be on the move at the trade deadline. If we remember the last time Washington made these types of wholesale changes during a season in 2023, the team quit.
No matter what you do, you never quit. You make changes when they need to be made, and the time for that is after the season ends.
The Commanders have three months to evaluate top coordinators around the league as well as their own in-house options. But in the meantime, there's still business to take care of.
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