Most Washington Commanders fans seem to be fairly happy with their decision to hire former Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn as their next head coach, but those who watched Quinn closely have noticed a fatal flaw that could put a lid on their potential.
When Quinn was with the Cowboys, he often struggled against NFC rivals like the San Francisco 49ers, Green Bay Packers, and Los Angeles Rams, all of whom have offenses operated by Kyle Shanahan or someone derived from his coaching tree. Former Shanahan protege Matt LaFleur, who famously obliterated Dallas' defense in the postseason, was up to his old tricks again.
Green Bay's 27-18 win against the Commanders on Thursday Night Football was nowhere near as close as that scoreline would indicate. Green Bay left a ton of points on the board, yet they still were moving the ball without breaking a sweat. LaFleur's pre-snap motion and distribution of touches killed Quinn again.
Unless he can figure out how to put these demons to bed, the Commanders will look a lot like Quinn's old Cowboys teams that kept running into Shanahan walls whenever they would meet in big games late in the season.
Cowboys fans know Commanders coach Dan Quinn always struggles vs. Matt LaFleur
Quinn's defense is a fairly static one when compared to many of the more creative units in the league. While that does make the scheme simple and easy to learn, it can also leave it open to manipulation by a creative coach like LaFleur that loves to find mismatches.
Quinn's biggest issue in this game was stopping tight end Tucker Kraft, who caught six passes for 124 yards and one touchdown in a thorough domination of the Commanders' secondary. The fact that Quinn never cracked the Kraft code in this contest is unfortunately not too dissimilar from what Dallas fans saw in big games.
Commanders fans will defend him by saying that he doesn't have the defensive personnel to enact his ideal scheme, but that shouldn't mean Love can walk this team up and down the field that easily. Green Bay had multiple touchdown drives greater than 90 yards, which is the first time they've done that since the 2018 season.
Quinn can cook up a defense in no time at all, but Shanahan-esque offenses are clearly his kryptonite as a coach. Unless he fixes that issue, Washington's 2025 season will end in the same way many of his campaigns with Dallas did.