Commander Country

Michael Wilbon Rips Ron Rivera for ‘Dumbest Ever’ Commanders Carson Wentz Move

The Washington Commanders' 24-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns was a death blow to their playoff hopes.

Nathaniel Marrero

With the Washington Commanders back against the wall and a playoff berth on the line, they turned in one of their worst performances of the season in a 24-10 loss at home to the Cleveland Browns.

And to veteran Washington watcher Michael Wilbon, coach Ron Rivera turned in one of the "dumbest'' decisions imaginable.

"I love Ron Rivera,'' tweeted the legendary sports media figure. "He played for my fave team ever, the ‘85 Bears … He’s a worthy man and head coach … but starting Carson Wentz today with everything on the line for Washington was about as dumb a decision as a coach can make.''

Wow.

Carson Wentz did indeed show why fans weren’t clamoring for him to become the starting quarterback once he was healthy. Wentz threw three interceptions, each one seemingly worse than the other. ... all made possible by Rivera's fateful decision to turn away from Taylor Heinicke and back to the failed rehab project that is Wentz.

Now, with the Vikings losing at the Green Bay Packers, Washington is eliminated from playoff contention ... with the fingerprints of Wentz and Rivera all over the flop.

Here are three takeaways from the Commanders’ abysmal performance against Cleveland.

Commanders QB Problem:

When you have two quarterbacks, you have no quarterbacks.

In this case, the Washington Commanders epitomize that phrase.

With Heinicke’s struggles in a winless December, Wentz became the starting quarterback for the must-win game against Cleveland. At one point in the second quarter, Wentz had as many completions as he did interceptions.

He finished the day completing 16 of 28 passes for 143 yards, three picks and a rushing touchdown. Wentz’s performance may be the second straight year he’s contributed greatly to costing his team a playoff berth after the Indianapolis Colts got eliminated on the final day of the 2021-2022 season.

Washington has a quarterback problem, and we will argue that their answer is likely either playing for another team or is still in college.

One question is who will make that decision, and after Rivera’s decision to start Wentz and an all-time blunder at the postgame press conference, it’s fair to question if he’s the right man to do so.

Ron Rivera on the hot seat?:

“We can be eliminated?”

Those were the words Rivera said in response to potentially starting a third QB, rookie Sam Howell, if Washington were to get eliminated from playoff contention on Sunday, as did indeed happen.

Not knowing where your team stands in the playoff picture is mind-boggling for a head coach.

The decision to start Wentz may have ended Washington’s season, but decisions Rivera made in the game didn’t help, either.

Whether it was keeping Jonathan Williams in the game over Brian Robinson Jr. to get stuffed on fourth-and-1, or having too many men on the field before a pivotal third down in the fourth quarter, Rivera management hurt his team.

Decisions like those in a must-win game should force Washington to take a close look at who should be its head coach moving forward.

Second-half woes continue:

The Commanders' defense kept them in the game for back-to-back outings with their performance in the first half.

Things made a complete 180 in the second half against the San Francisco 49ers on Christmas Eve and Cleveland. Between the second half of both games, Washington got outscored 51-16.

And now it's over. ... signaling time for more decisions ... and Washington fans hope, not "dumb'' ones.

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Nathaniel Marrero
NATHANIEL MARRERO

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