The Washington Commanders are on their bye in Week 7, but the attention around Dan Quinn hasn’t let up. After a 23-17 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on “Monday Night Football,” Washington sits at 1-4-1, and Quinn’s handling of the offense - especially the clock management in that game and in the Week 6 overtime tie with the New York Giants - has drawn heavy criticism.
Even with Quinn under the microscope, the Commanders made a notable addition to the staff. According to Mike Garafolo and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Washington has brought in former Carolina Panthers interim head coach Steve Wilks to work with the defensive coaching staff.
“The Commanders have hired Steve Wilks to work with the defensive coaches under Dan Quinn and Daronte Jones, per me and Rapoport,” Garafolo posted on X. “The decision to hire Wilks was made last month.
He started last week. Wilks will help with game planning.
He won't be with the team on game days.”
Wilks, 57, has served as a defensive coordinator for the Panthers, Cleveland Browns, Missouri, San Francisco 49ers and New York Jets. He also coached the Arizona Cardinals as head coach in 2018.
His most recent head-coaching stint came in 2022, when he went 6-6 as Carolina’s interim coach. In his lone full season leading the Cardinals, Wilks finished 3-13.
Around the league, one obvious question has been what Washington would do if it decided to move on from Quinn. Wilks would be a logical option to step into an interim role if the Commanders don’t come out of the bye playing better.
Washington’s next chance comes Nov. 1 against the Philadelphia Eagles, a matchup that suddenly looks more manageable with Jalen Hurts lost for the season.
In Other News...
Commanders Head Into Bye Week With NFC East Embarrassment Growing
The bye week arrives with plenty for Washington to sort through after the loss to San Francisco pushed the Commanders to 1-4-1 and left them stuck in the middle of an ugly stretch for the NFC East. Across Weeks 5 and 6, the division went winless, a rare run of futility that has only added to the sense that nobody in the East is finding much traction right now.
Washingtons own issues go beyond the standings, with injuries continuing to chip away at the roster and the offense trying to piece itself together. Terry McLaurin was among the players hurt, and the break now gives the Commanders at least a little time to reset before the next phase of a season that is already getting complicated. [Read more 🡒]
49ers Win Now Comes With A Discipline Debate Fans Will Hate
The afterglow from Monday nights 23-17 loss to San Francisco has been hard to separate from what happened in the trenches, where Washington had to keep playing after Sam Cosmi went out following a low collision on the line. The Commanders left the field at 1-4-1, but the conversation around the game quickly shifted from the final score to the kind of contact that tends to linger long after the broadcast ends.
Public criticism followed the play almost immediately, with Shannon Sharpe calling it dirty and drawing more attention to the hit than the 49ers move to 6-0. For Washington, the bigger concern is what comes next for Cosmi and how the league handles a snap that already has people debating discipline instead of football. [Read more 🡒]
Stefon Diggs Keeps One Commanders Debate Alive After Another Loss
Another loss pushed Washington to 1-4-1 on Monday night, but the bigger concern in the moment was how the Commanders keep finding themselves in catch-up mode. The latest setback fit a familiar pattern for a team trying to stabilize its season, with enough flashes to keep the conversation alive and enough mistakes to leave plenty of frustration behind.
Stefon Diggs still saw a division that leaves room for hope, even with Washington fighting uphill again. He pointed to the NFC East as still being very much in play, which matters because the Commanders have not completely fallen out of the race even as the margin for error keeps shrinking. The challenge now is turning that belief into a more complete performance before the schedule makes the debate any harder to sustain. [Read more 🡒]