Why Washington Commanders Benched QB Sam Howell for Jacoby Brissett

The Washington Commanders made a move at quarterback in the fourth quarter of their Week 15 loss to the Los Angeles Rams and pulled Sam Howell for veteran Jacoby Brissett.

INGLEWOOD, Ca. -- The Washington Commanders (4-10) have been all but forgotten about, and after their 28-20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams (7-7) have been officially eliminated from playoff contention.

The story everyone will be talking about following this latest Commanders loss, however, is what happened with 9:05 left in the fourth quarter, trailing 28-7. 

Because that is when Washington put in veteran backup Jacoby Brissett and benched first-year starting quarterback Sam Howell.

"(We were) really just trying to take care of him a little bit," caoch Ron Rivera said of the decision to pull Howell with just over nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. "We got into a situation and they had their ears pinned back like that, you know (we) didn't want to see anything crazy happen."

Washington Commanders quarterback Sam Howell (14) moves out to pass against the against the Los Angeles Rams during the first half at SoFi Stadium / Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Asked as a follow up whether or not Howell is the starting quarterback for the team moving forward Rivera immediately responded, "Yes."

Still, Brissett's performance is going to leave the conversation open outside the franchise, if not inside of it.

In his first drive leading the Commanders offense, Brissett completed all four of his pass attempts and collected 53 yards total with 29 of them coming on a touchdown pass to star receiver Terry McLaurin.

That connection shrunk the Rams' lead to 14 and on the next offensive possession for Washington Brisseett again found McLaurin deep. This time the duo gained 48 yards and got the ball down to the Los Angeles one-yard line.

From there, after a series of flags, the Commanders' backup quarterback found receiver Curtis Samuel for a three-yard touchdown that made the deficit just eight points after a botched extra point.

Commanders' Terry McLaurin Achieves Milestone, Scores TD vs. Rams

Ultimately the heroics fell short of earning Washington an exciting come-from-behind win, but succeeded in opening a flood of questions about the future of Howell and the status moving forward of Brissett.

"This isn't a product of who he is," Brissett said of Howell. "He's top 10 in the league in passing for a reason, you know what I mean, he's a good player. It's just that point in the game where it's just like, 'Just get ready for next week.' ... He's going to be a good player in this league for a long time."