Dan Quinn’s first season in Washington gave Commanders fans plenty to latch onto. The team finished 12-5, the franchise’s best regular-season mark since 1991, then knocked off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Detroit Lions before falling to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game. For a while, it looked like Washington might be settling into something bigger.
That picture has changed fast.
The Commanders are sitting in a rough 3-13-1 stretch over their last 17 games, and that kind of slide has put Quinn squarely in the spotlight. ESPN’s Bill Barnwell didn’t sugarcoat it, writing that Quinn’s team is “now 3-13-1 over its past 17 games” and noting that “Any attempt to draw a line under 2025 as an aberration hasn't been successful, given that the defense has continued to struggle and Daniels has already suffered another elbow injury in 2026.”
Barnwell also said, “I thought calls to fire Quinn for the endgame on Sunday were too harsh, but there's no denying that this is the sort of disaster that lingers in fans' minds. “If Quinn can't turn things around, there's the risk of this becoming the sort of tenure-defining collapse that Quinn was on the other side of when the Hail Mary past Tyrique Stevenson Sr. in 2024 was the beginning of the end for Matt Eberflus in Chicago,” Bill Barnwell wrote.
The reasons for Washington’s issues aren’t hard to find. Health has played a part, and Jayden Daniels’ injuries have mattered. But Quinn doesn’t get a pass for all of it, especially with the defense still leaking and the losses piling up.
The latest frustration came against the New York Giants, where Quinn’s clock management drew heavy criticism after Washington let a winnable game slip away. At this point, the hot-seat talk isn’t going anywhere until the Commanders start reversing the trend.
In Other News...
Commanders Head Into 49ers Test With One Costly Problem Up Front
The Commanders head into Monday Night Football against the 49ers still trying to steady themselves after the tie with the Giants, and the biggest concern is not hard to spot. Up front, injuries have forced Washington into a thinner lineup than it wanted, with Chris Paul stepping in on the offensive line while Laremy Tunsil remains out, leaving the unit shorthanded at a time when it needs to be at its cleanest.
Paul has been asked to carry more than the Commanders likely expected, and the results have been uneven enough to keep the issue front and center as the matchup with San Francisco approaches. With little proven depth available behind him, Washington does not have many easy answers if the line continues to wobble, which makes this a problem the team may have to manage rather than solve right away. [Read more 🡒]
Nick Cross Gives Commanders Defense A Needed Lift At The Right Time
Nick Cross is moving back into the Commanders defensive mix at a timely moment, with Dan Quinn saying the safety is expected to be fully available for the upcoming matchup with the San Francisco 49ers. After missing games because of an internal medical issue, Cross returned to full participation in practice, a step Washington needed after the defense had some trouble filling the void in his absence.
The timing matters even more with Monday night preparation ramping up and the 49ers next on the schedule. Crosss return should give the Commanders a steadier presence on the back end, and it comes after a stretch that included an overnight hospital stay following the Cowboys game, a reminder of just how much has gone into getting him back on the field. [Read more 🡒]
Commanders Are Already Facing A Brutal Injury Toll This Early
Through the first five weeks of the 2026 season, Washington has already absorbed a level of injury attrition that few teams can match, and the damage shows up not just in missed games but in the broader value the roster has lost on the field. The league-wide analysis measures that impact in Total Points, a metric built from Expected Points Added, and it paints a rough early picture for a Commanders team that has had to navigate key absences before the schedule has even settled in.
What makes the situation sting is that the loss is not just about bodies, but about high-end talent disappearing from the lineup at the exact moments Washington needed stability. When a team is already near the top of the league in value lost and still has more projected damage ahead, it becomes more than a short-term setback. It turns into a season-defining problem, with the Commanders now forced to piece together answers while waiting to see how much more of the roster they can reasonably get back. [Read more 🡒]