In his first season helming the Washington Commanders, Dan Quinn was a Coach of the Year contender after leading them to the NFC Championship last season. But fast forward nearly a year later, Quinn's tenure in Washington is rapidly unraveling, and Atlanta Falcons fans aren't surprised.
After Quinn's time in Atlanta got off to a hot start before cooling off considerably, the same trend is happening in Washington. Despite being months removed from a miracle season, this year has been the complete opposite, as the Commanders are sitting at 3-10 and have lost eight games in a row.
The humbling return to reality has seen the 55-year-old coach land on the hot seat once again. This past weekend provided arguably the ugliest loss of them all, as Quinn's Commanders were shut-out 31-0 at home by J.J. McCarthy and the Minnesota Vikings, who have also disappointed this season.
Former Falcons' head coach Dan Quinn's flop with the Commanders is giving fans some serious déjà vu from his time in Atlanta
The Commanders finished with the second-worst record in the NFL in 2023, so when Quinn took over, the expectation was that Washington's rebuild would take time. Instead, they struck gold drafting Offensive Rookie of the Year Jayden Daniels, and fans finally had a reason to believe again.
From there, Quinn and Adam Peters looked to build on their Cinderella run by trading for aging veterans Deebo Samuel and Laremly Tunsil, which has failed miserably. And this season has only confirmed the belief that their playoff run was a flash in the pan rather than a sign of what's to come.
It's bad enough that Quinn's group has been eliminated from playoff contention, but his mismanagement of Daniels has been far worse. The second-year quarterback missed the last three games due to an elbow injury, and re-aggravated the injury in Sunday's blowout loss vs. the Vikings.
And the same happened in Atlanta, as Quinn took the Dirty Birds to the playoffs in two of his first three seasons, and led them to the Super Bowl in 2016. But from there, things went downhill, as they never returned to the playoffs after 2017, and he was fired midway through 2020 after an 0-5 start.
From 2018 through 2020, Atlanta compiled a 14-23 record, which led to the Falcons firing him and naming current coach Raheem Morris their interim head coach. But following another humbling loss in Washington, Riggos Rag's Dean Jones didn't hold back in his harsh criticism of the veteran coach.
"Just a few short days after head coach Dan Quinn proudly proclaimed that his Commanders squad was not lost anymore, he endured another embarrassing afternoon at the office in a game that was expected to be much closer."Dean Jones (Riggos Rag)
The Commanders have nothing to play for this season, so the fact that they're not shutting their franchise savior down for the year is clear mismanagement. And Jones' frustrations are even more valid when you consider the injury history in with fellow ex No. 2 pick Robert Griffin III in Washington.
And with the way he's losing the support of both the locker room and the fanbase, the ex-Falcons' head coach has Commanders fans more lost than ever before.