Heinicke’s gritty play wins over fans, but Cousins in the clutch takes the game

LANDOVER — The chants of “SELL THE TEAM” by the perpetually aggrieved Washington fans at FedEx Field were overtaken Sunday — for a few exuberant minutes at least — by triumphant, stadium-rattling shouts of “HEIN-ICKE! HEIN-ICKE!” after the gutsy backup quarterback staked the Commanders to a double-digit lead over the Minnesota Vikings.

But the gunslinger who has won the hearts of the Washington faithful with his shoot-first-ask-questions-later mentality had a crucial misfire — a late interception — that gave Kirk Cousins and Co. a chance to sneak out of town with a win.  

Heinicke stood at a lectern after Washington’s 20-17 loss with an anguished look on his face. The sound of cheers had long disappeared, silenced by the Commanders’ fourth-quarter meltdown.  

The Commanders blew a 17-7 lead, and Heinicke contributed to the collapse, but he wasn’t alone. On the Vikings game-winning drive, a relatively obscure backup Commanders defensive tackle committed a costly penalty that gave Cousins a new set of downs — an error that allowed Minnesota to drain the clock down to 16 seconds left before kicker Greg Joseph made his game-winning 28-yarder. 

“No one’s going to be harder on me than myself,” Heinicke said. 

March can’t come soon enough for the Commanders’ dwindling base of true believers. 

That’s when, according to Fox NFL insider Jay Glazer, the sale of embattled owner Dan Snyder’s team could officially be completed. Glazer reported on the network’s pregame show that Snyder is expected to get an offer of at least $7 billion for his downtrodden franchise and there’s “hope” that the process will be completed in time for the NFL’s owners meetings.

There was also speculation over the weekend that a new owner — Amazon’s Jeff Bezos? Media mogul Byron Allen? Mortgage executive Mat Ishbia? They’re all among the would-be Snyder replacements — can jumpstart stalled stadium talks. 

In the locker room, the possibility of new ownership didn’t matter to the players whose three-game winning streak had just been snapped. There was a sense of quiet, with players knowing they had let a valuable opportunity slip away. The Commanders could have made a statement by beating the now 7-1 Minnesota Vikings.

Instead, the Commanders fell to 4-5. 

“Good teams find ways to win,” defensive tackle Jonathan Allen said. “We didn’t.” 

This defeat came at the hands of familiar faces. Cousins — Washington’s former starter — threw for 265 yards, two touchdowns and an interception as he withstood a litany of hits to keep his team in it. The Vikings, too, are coached by Kevin O’Connell, Washington’s former offensive coordinator who has gotten Minnesota off to its best start since 2009.

Cousins was arguably Washington’s most reliable quarterback in Snyder’s 20-plus years of ownership. Notably, the Commanders have struggled to fill his spot with 11 different starting quarterbacks following Cousins’ departure in 2018. 

Heinicke, coincidentally, has started the most games for Washington at quarterback since then. But his flaws are evident — even when he’s able to overcome them.

There was no better illustration than Heinicke’s 49-yard bomb to wide receiver Curtis Samuel in the third quarter. The play was Washington’s best of the afternoon: Samuel snatched the ball and rolled into the end zone for a touchdown despite there being three defenders right near him. 

Still, Heinicke willingly threw the ball into triple coverage. Samuel made a heck of a grab, but he was also helped out by Vikings cornerback Camryn Bynum colliding with a referee.

“I saw him throw it and went, ‘Oh,’” said coach Ron Rivera, who put his head down and closed his eyes to mimic his reaction.

“The ref made a great play for us,” said Heinicke, who finished with 149 yards on 15 of 28 passing for two touchdowns and an interception.   

The forced pass can be overlooked, celebrated even, when it results in a positive play — Samuel’s touchdown gave Washington a 10-7 lead shortly after halftime. But Heinicke’s judgment is harder to ignore when the choices lead to game-turning plays. 

On his interception, Heinicke missed his first read on the play to target tight end Logan Thomas in the middle of the field. Thomas was open, but Heinicke threw the ball way too high — landing right in the arms of Vikings safety Harrison Smith. 

After he ran it back 35 yards to Washington’s 12-yard line, Smith celebrated the turnover with some elaborate choreography: He rolled the football into a parade of teammates, who collapsed as if they were pins in a bowling alley. Feeding off the momentum, the Vikings scored when Cousins hit running back Dalvin Cook for a 12-yard touchdown.

“Taylor made one mistake, but everything before that he was balling,” Thomas said. “He made plays and plays that weren’t even there. … Everybody makes mistakes in this game — I made multiple mistakes — but they just don’t get highlighted like an interception does.” 

Thomas has a point. The Vikings tied the game with slightly less than eight minutes left — plenty of time for Washington to rally. But the Commanders committed other errors. The offense, on the ensuing possession, went three-and-out. 

No mistake was more punishing than when defensive tackle John Ridgeway was called for unnecessary roughness with 1:56 left in the game. The penalty wiped out what would have been a Vikings field goal as Ridgeway “made forcible contact” to the Vikings’ long-snapper head and neck area” immediately after the snap and before he had time to protect himself,” NFL Senior Vice President of Officiating Walt Anderson told a pool reporter. 

Instead of the Commanders getting the ball back with two minutes left, the Vikings could now run down the clock with a new set of downs. Why didn’t the Commanders just let the Vikings score? Minnesota knew Washington only had one timeout left and ran plays to burn time, O’Connell said.

“They were not going toward the line of scrimmage,” Rivera said. 

By the time Washington got the ball back, the Commanders had 12 seconds to drive 75 yards. They did not. 

“That was another game we should have had,” defensive end Montez Sweat said. “I can’t even tell you how bad I’m frustrated. But I’m not the only one.”