Changes Coming to Washington Commanders Coaching Staff? Ron Rivera Responds
The Washington Commanders allowed at least 33 points for the fourth-straight contest in their 40-20 loss to the Chicago Bears on "Thursday Night Football."
There have been calls from fans for the firing of head coach Ron Rivera and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio, and on Friday, the former was asked if changes on the coaching staff need to be made.
"No," Rivera said. "What is this? Game 5? We've got 12 left to play. There's plenty of football left. We haven't had an opportunity to finish working on the things I talked about last night. We still got several things to go through."
Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera looks on during their game against the Chicago Bears Thursday at FedExField.
USA TODAY Sports
So, what are the things Rivera hashed out Thursday after the game? Besides him taking full responsibility and saying the team and coaching staff needs to review the tape, a lot of the issues stemmed from the defense's inability to slow down a Bears offense that was 23rd in the NFL in points scored prior to Thursday's contest.
"We did not come out and slow them down," Rivera said after the game. "It's something we've got to take a long look at, kind of understand why more so than anything else."
Bears quarterback Justin Fields threw three touchdown passes in the opening 30 minutes, as Chicago settled for two field goals during their five-drives, five-score first half.
Rivera pointed to Washington's early third-down defense in there that it wasn't able to get off the field. Chicago was 6-for-9 on third down in the first half, but converted on the ensuing fourth down play after one failed conversion.
Other than Fields' two touchdown passes on third down, one of the more demoralizing plays was a 16-yard run by Khalil Herbert to convert a third-and-7. The Bears later scored a touchdown with 24 seconds to go in the first half.
Rivera also pointed to the rotation of players as a focal point. The Commanders benched rookie cornerback Emmanuel Forbes after "struggling" when the staff was hoping to see a bounce back from him after the Eagles game.
The urgency in Washington was evident with Magic Johnson's critical postgame comments, and if a change isn't made by the players on the field, there might be some to the staff off of it.
