Slumping Commanders look to rekindle hot start by getting back to basics

The 7-4 Washington Commanders lost ground in the playoff race over the weekend, but coach Dan Quinn hopes a return to routine on Monday can help his young squad rekindle their hot start.

While some fans and analysts are pushing the panic button after back-to-back losses, Quinn sees the midseason struggle as a necessary catalyst for improvement.

“It’s fair that there’s ebbs and flows. I wish everything was linear, that it went up and you keep just kicking a— and getting better at every stop,” he said Monday. “But you do kind of have to go through these peaks and valleys a little bit to go.”

The coach had a clear message for his team as they returned to work on Monday: Stick to the routine. Monday, as always, was “Tell the Truth Monday,” where players analyze last week’s game film to find room for improvement.

Thursday’s loss, which saw the 8-2 Eagles pull away in the second half, gave Philadelphia a 1 1/2-game lead in the NFC East. The defeat came just four days after a one-point loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Some analysts, like Quinn, aren’t sweating just yet. The upstart Commanders kept the games close against the two division leaders.

“I don’t think Commanders fans should walk away feeling as if the season is lost – there’s been great improvement, clearly the culture has changed, and all these things that you’ve talked about the last several weeks,” CBS’ Ian Eagle said on “The Hoffman Show” on The Team 980. “But the proof is in the pudding: two winnable games, and the team went 0-2.”

The sentiment around the league is generally mixed. Offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury and rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels set a record pace to start the year before plummeting back to Earth in recent weeks. Some see a repeat of Kingsbury’s Arizona Cardinals teams that jumped to quick starts before fizzling down the stretch.

The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen offered a few reasons for the seemingly annual November lull for Kingsbury’s offenses.

“QB has too much of a burden as a runner and health goes down,” he wrote in a bulleted list on X. “Defenses catch up to simplicity. (Theoretical) defenses start catching up to their no-huddle communication.”

Whether there’s a terminal problem with Kingsbury’s offense or not, Thursday’s loss provided a silver lining for Washington’s injury-riddled squad: rest. The “mini-bye” after the game allowed the Commanders three days off to recover before returning to their usual routine on Monday. They needed it — their bye week is still two weeks away.

“You do kind of punch your way through it,” Quinn said. “The NFL season is long, but we do talk about it. We do plan for how we push ourselves through those spots, so it does come up. It’s a real thing.”

The Commanders’ injury report has become increasingly crowded in recent weeks. Offensive tackles Andrew Wylie, Cornelius Lucas and Brandon Coleman have played through nagging injuries, along with Daniels and running back Brian Robinson Jr. Kicker Austin Seibert and cornerback Marshon Lattimore could return this week after missing the last two games with injuries, though their status won’t be updated until Wednesday.

Lattimore, who has not practiced since joining the Commanders at the trade deadline, could see “some” on-field work, according to Quinn.

“That’s one of the hard parts of our league is injuries and dealing with them,” the coach said. “It’s part of the game that sucks. How do you keep developing that next player to be in that space? But all teams deal with it and it is hard.”

The extra time at home could be particularly beneficial for a Commanders defense that the Steelers and Eagles gashed as the games wore on. On Thursday, Philadelphia running back Saquon Barkley ran for 76 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.

Washington has lost the time of possession battle in each of its last three games as teams have chipped away at Quinn’s fatigued defense.

But easier games appear to loom on the horizon. The Commanders have a date with the struggling Dallas Cowboys (and backup quarterback Cooper Rush) on Sunday at Northwest Stadium. The 2-8 Titans come to town seven days later. Quinn’s group will then have 14 days to prepare for a trip to New Orleans to face the 4-7 Saints.

With a lighter schedule down the stretch, the Commanders are still squarely in the playoff hunt in the NFC.

The Minnesota Vikings (8-2) and Green Bay Packers (7-3) both won on Sunday to drop the Commanders to the seventh and final playoff spot, but ESPN’s playoff projections give Washington an 89% chance to make the postseason. Losses by the 5-5 San Francisco 49ers and the 6-5 Atlanta Falcons boosted the Commanders’ odds with seven weeks remaining in the regular season.