A day after losing 44-22 to the Detroit Lions and falling to 3-7 on the season, Washington Commanders coach Dan Quinn revealed a major change coming to the defense. He'll be taking the role of defensive coordinator for the remainder of the season.
Quinn began his media session on Monday by announcing the news.
"When something's not working, we shift from the question of 'why isn't it working?' To 'what do we need to do to get it right?'" And right now, that'll call for some change. I'll take over the role as the defensive coordinator and all that entails," Quinn said.
He added that Joe Whitt, who Quinn will be replacing as defensive coordinator, "took the news like the pro he is."
"The defensive staff, including Joe, were all consumed by getting it right," Quinn noted. "And that's exactly what we intend to do."
Washington's defense has been one of the worst in the NFL all season. The Commanders are third-worst in total defense, second-worst in passing defense, tenth-worst in rushing defense and fourth-worst in scoring defense.
Since Week 1's 21-6 win over the New York Giants, Washington has surrendered at least 24 points in every game. The last four weeks have been particularly bad, with the Commanders losing 44-22 to the Dallas Cowboys, 28-7 to the Kansas City Chiefs, 38-14 to the Seattle Seahawks and 44-22 to the Lions.
Whether this change will make a significant impact on Washington's defense remains to be seen. At the very least, though, it was obvious that some sort of change was needed.