It’s a critical point of the year for every NFL team.
The final portion of the NFL regular season marks the playoff cutoff line for teams that are right around .500, as every play and down counts towards capturing those last couple of playoff spots.
The Washington Commanders found themselves in this position yesterday, as they were 7-7-1 going into their matchup against the 6-9 Cleveland Browns.
The Commanders were up 7-3 at the half, but Cleveland quarterback Deshaun Watson played his best football of the season so far in the second half, and the Browns ultimately ended up boat racing the Commanders 24-10.
Needless to say, it looked like a hella uninspired performance from a team that was right on the border of making the playoffs.
If they didn’t beat the Browns, then they had to hope that the Minnesota Vikings would defeat the Green Bay Packers. It didn’t happen, as the Packers smoked the Vikings 41-17, and the Commanders’ playoff hopes were shot down.
But speaking of an “uninspired” performance, there may be an obvious reasoning for that…
And it could be because Commanders head coach Ron Rivera had absolutely zero clue that his team could get eliminated from playoff contention yesterday.
In the postgame press conference, Rivera said he would discuss who would be getting the start at quarterback against the Cowboys next week. Obviously, confused why it would matter, considering the Commanders were basically already out of the playoffs after their loss, he asked why Rivera would wait to change quarterbacks when it doesn’t really matter.
Rivera responded with a confused look:
“We could be eliminated?”
Are you kidding me?
Rivera is a seasoned NFL head coach who even took the Carolina Panthers to the Super Bowl one time, and you’re telling me he had no clue his team could get eliminated from the playoffs with only two games left in the season? And they’re 7-7-1?
Not a good look.
