This week, the Washington Commanders start Jacoby Brissett instead of Sam Howell at quarterback.
It’s the climax of a season that began promisingly but has now gone horribly off the rails.
The Commanders are already out of the playoffs. Brissett, who is a well-known commodity as a veteran backup, has no upside. Despite Howell’s problems in recent weeks, continuing to let him grow would at least offer him the opportunity to make a strong impression on what is likely to be a new front office and coaching staff in 2024.
Brissett appears to be aware of his and Howell’s intended roles. He understands that he is not a long-term solution at quarterback. Howell, who led the NFL in passing yards at one point this season, was considered that way just a month ago.
Now, he’s being benched while Washington has nothing to play for.
Rivera, whose strength in his first three years in D.C. was in developing a strong locker room culture that maximised its outcomes on the pitch, has phoned it in amid rumours of his dismissal – and it shows. Montez Sweat, whom Washington gladly dealt away at the deadline, all but proved that the Commanders had given up on the season some weeks earlier.
Losing had to wear on Howell, and Rivera has done nothing to boost his young signal-caller’s confidence. There was no attempt to improve the team around him. There was no encouraging comfort during his media press conferences, as other coaches, such as Robert Saleh, had done when their quarterbacks struggled. Now, I’m just kicking him to the curb.
It’s complete and utter organisational malpractice. Washington will now enter the 2024 season needing to restart the entire roster, rather than having pieces who could have been potential building blocks for a new regime.
There’s no knowing how difficult it will be for whoever the Commanders’ coach and quarterback are next season to make any progress while starting from nothing. In today’s culture of immediate satisfaction, patience will run thin with them as well.
This is how bad teams continue to be bad. It’s been a never-ending cycle in Washington for far too long, and this time it might have all been avoided.
