‘Plenty of football left’: Ron Rivera resisting staff changes, seeks defensive improvement within

Ron Rivera said he won’t make any changes to his staff after Thursday’s embarrassing 40-20 loss to the Chicago Bears. And the Washington Commanders coach was adamant that it was too early in the season to make a dramatic overhaul.

“We’ve got 12 (games) left to go,” Rivera said. “There’s plenty of football left.” 

Instead, Rivera is again banking on the Commanders that he, his staff and players can make the adjustments necessary to cure the team’s surprising defensive woes. Through five games, the Commanders are 2-3 — and the defense has played a big part in why Rivera once again has a losing record past the quarter mark of the season.  Washington has given up at least 30 points in four straight outings.

This isn’t an unfamiliar position for Rivera and the Commanders: Washington’s defense has always started slowly in the coach’s four-year tenure. But the fact that it happened again has been alarming. Washington’s defense, after all, is mostly made up of the same players who are in the same scheme under defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio. 

Thursday’s performance was particularly dreadful considering that the Bears — who had dropped 14 straight — had one of the worst offenses in the league. And yet quarterback Justin Fields (282 passing yards) and wide receiver D.J. Moore (230 yards and three touchdowns) carved up Washington. 

The Commanders have been able to make adjustments in the past: The 2020 and 2022 seasons featured enough improvements that the defense finished as a top-10 unit by the end of the year. And even in 2021, when the Commanders ranked 22nd in yards allowed, there was a stretch in which the unit played significantly better. 

There’s no guarantee, though, that turnaround is coming this year. Rivera and Co. will have to be intentional about what areas to address — especially since so much has gone wrong. 

“Well, I’m a little disappointed, more so than I am surprised,” Rivera said. “I just think that some of the things that we have to do is we have to play with a little bit more discipline. We’re going to stop trying to do more than we need to and do our jobs.”

So what exactly has gone wrong with the Commanders’ defense? A bit of everything. No problem, though, has been more glaring than the unit’s continued habit of giving up explosive plays. According to Stathead, the Commanders have surrendered six plays of at least 50 yards and 18 that have gone for at least 25. Those are both league highs, although there’s a caveat since that was calculated before Sunday’s action. Even then, those numbers are still the worst in the Rivera era through the first five weeks. 

A lot of those woes have been attributed to the secondary. The Commanders benched first-round cornerback Emmanuel Forbes for veteran Danny Johnson because of his repeated struggles in the passing game. But starters Benjamin St-Juste and Kendall Fuller also gave up big plays, in particular, against the Bears. Rivera said he’s seen players try to do too much, which he acknowledged could be a result of an offseason emphasis on the unit to try and produce more turnovers. 

In trying to produce big turnover-worthy plays, the Commanders aren’t always playing with the discipline required to be a top unit. St-Juste, for instance, said he made the mistake of trying to jump a route on a play that resulted in a 58-yard reception to Moore. 

“That’s on me,” St-Juste said. 

Another reason for Washington’s defensive slide is because of its regression on third-down defense. That statistic, in particular, can vary from year to year, and it has hurt the Commanders this season. After only allowing opponents to convert on only 31.9% of its third downs — a league best — the Commanders are giving up 41.2% of their third downs this year, the 13th highest rate in the league.

Rivera said the Commanders would have to examine whether to instruct players to stick solely to the techniques that coaches are teaching them — or whether they need to be more flexible to suit players’ preferences.

Regardless, patience is thin. The move to bench Forbes, for instance, came after Rivera insisted that Forbes needed time to grow and that experience on the field would help the rookie grow. 

But by benching, Rivera and his staff sent a message that repeated mistakes would no longer be tolerated. 

“I think doing what we did with Emmanuel was kind of the indicator that we can’t go through this anymore,” Rivera said. “Now it’s time. We have to continue to put the guys out there that we believe are going to get it done the right way.”