OPINION:
It may be time for Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris to fire up that high-powered search committee of his again.
You know, the one that scoured the earth and worked around the clock to find the coach who would lead this franchise out of the abyss, only to hire Dan Quinn?
If there was one consensus that came out of the firestorm of disbelief about the ending of Sunday’s game against the New York Giants at Northwest Stadium, it was this: The failure to recognize the seconds ticking away, taking with them the opportunity for a game-winning field goal in overtime, amounts to a fireable offense.
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I doubt Harris is going to fire Quinn this week or before the end of the season, unless this — the Quinn blunder of the game — is going to be a weekly occurrence.
But unless this 1-3-1 team can change direction, this Giants game ending is topic A, B and C in any season-ending exit interview.
Commanders minority owner Magic Johnson may have already conducted his exit interview. “I’m in total disbelief my Commanders had such poor clock management in today’s overtime game against the Giants,” Johnson wrote on social media. “All we had to do was kick the field goal and we would have won the game!”
Heading to San Francisco to face the undefeated 49ers next Monday night, I don’t see the direction changing anytime soon.
And while it is hard to believe there would be another gaffe as egregious as watching quarterback Jayden Daniels panic — Quinn’s quarterback seemed as clueless as the coach — when he realized there would be no time to attempt a kick, this was hardly an isolated incident.
Just last week in London against the Indianapolis Colts in a 30-13 loss, Washington was leading 6-0 in the second quarter when they inexplicably went for a first down on fourth-and-1 on their own 46, giving the ball to Craig Reynolds (who?), who was stopped for no gain. Indianapolis would take possession and wound up kicking a 52-yard field goal for their first score. Ultimately, the Commanders lost because backup quarterback Marcus Mariota — getting the start for an injured Daniels — was knocked out of the game with a knee injury in the first quarter.
But the 4th-down call helped give the Colts momentum, instead of being buried deep in their own territory by a Tress Way punt.
“When you go for it, there’s risk involved,” Quinn said. “We thought this one was the best plan to go after it at that distance. … It was by happenstance. Like, we did an on-the-ball shift. It was more by happenstance. We didn’t full sub, so it was a specific package we worked on.”
Happenstance — according to Webster, a circumstance that is due to chance.
Then there was the opening game against Philadelphia. After Daniels led his team to within two points in the fourth quarter, the Commanders had a chance to tie the game at 24 with a two-point conversion. Offensive coordinator David Blough called a clumsy shovel pass to tight end John Bates that failed miserably.
Quinn was universally criticized for the call. “In big-time moments, you’ve got to think about players, not plays,” Fox analyst Tom Brady said. “I was thinking, give Daniels a run-pass option. You’ve got Terry [McLaurin]. You’ve got Stefon [Diggs]. I’m not thinking Bates.”
Quinn defended it. “I knew the play,” he said. “It was a good one. It just didn’t execute.”
At least it wasn’t happenstance.
There were similar blunders in 2025. The most glaring moment came when the coach left Daniels in during the fourth quarter of a game in which the Commanders were down 38-7 to the Seattle Seahawks. That’s when the quarterback suffered a dislocated left elbow — the same elbow now encased in a chunky metal brace.
The next day, Quinn said, “I just missed it. That is 100 percent on me.”
He was not alone in blame. Any of his coaches, such as Blough, then the quarterback coach, could have spoken up and urged Quinn to get Daniels out of the game — just like Sunday, when anyone on the sideline, or the huddle, could have spoken up about the urgency of the moment.
Again, Daniels himself should have known they had no timeouts left and the play was to spike the ball to stop the clock before it expired, giving them a chance for a game-winning 24-yard kick.
“We just have to be better,” Daniels told reporters after the game. “We have to be better. Situational football. Starts with me. Everybody will say the same thing, but we have to be better at situational football.”
There may be blame to go around, but the responsibility lies with Quinn, who repeatedly has lacked situational awareness.
“The right call is honestly like we can go clock it early and don’t put ourselves in that spot and that is my responsibility,” Quinn said. “Nobody else’s.”
It’s not just situational awareness, though. Quinn whiffed on two of his biggest personnel hires — the offensive and defensive coordinators. After just two seasons, he fired Kliff Kingsbury, who had produced one of the most productive offenses in the league. He fired Joe Whitt Jr., a disaster Quinn brought with him from Dallas, where Quinn was the defensive coordinator before coming to Washington. He replaced them with Blough, 31, a rookie offensive coordinator, and Daronte Jones, a well-traveled coach who is calling the shots defensively for the first time.
Both had a hand in Sunday’s debacle.
Somebody get the basketball guys on the phone. It may be search committee time again soon.
• You can hear Thom Loverro on “The Kevin Sheehan Show” podcast.
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