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The Washington Commanders played its sixth game of the season Thursday night as the team defeated the Chicago Bears 12-7 in yet another Thursday Night Football snooze-fest. It brought the Washington record to 2-4 on the year and snapped a four game losing streak.
The Commanders now enjoy a mini-bye week before the next game on October 23 against Green Bay. It’s hard to believe that the season is already one-third of the way through, especially when you consider all of the headlines surrounding the team, both on and off the field.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the biggest headlines through six weeks surrounding The Washington Commanders as well as a look ahead to the remaining 12 weeks of the season.
Team owner, Dan Snyder, is taking on the entire NFL by himself
It’s no secret, Commanders fans hate Dan Snyder and are left longing for the day that he sells their beloved franchise. But before that day can come, Snyder is going scorched Earth on the entire league in a last-ditch effort to hold onto his team.
In the lead-up to this Thursday’s game, a report surfaced that Snyder has ‘dirt’ on other NFL owners and league commissioner, Roger Goodell.
This news follows the past years stories surrounding Snyder’s multiple investigations related to workplace sexual misconduct and other allegations. Snyder was fined $10 million by the NFL in 2021 for workplace misconduct.
There have been rumors swirling that NFL owners also do not like Snyder and would like to see him gone. In order to accomplish this, there would need to be at least 24 owners to vote ‘yes’ to Snyder being removed as owner of the Commanders.
The Commanders have denied that Snyder has any ‘dirt’ or information on other NFL owners or Goodell.
“Owners have a shared love of the game, mutual respect for each other and our organizations and a strong working relationship,” a team spokesperson told ESPN this week.
Honestly…what are they supposed to say? I think it’s pretty clear that this story is far from over.
Ron Rivera doesn’t like Carson Wentz…but will defend him til the end
Snyder news not enough? How about the week that the Commanders head coach and quarterback have had.
Following Sunday’s loss to Tennessee, Washington head coach Ron Rivera was asked why the Commanders had a 1-4 record compared to the other teams in the NFC East, who all have at least four wins.
Rivera responded with one word: “Quarterback.”
The head coach faced national criticism for the comment. Despite what anyone might think of Wentz on the field, saying what Rivera said was very out of character and basically the worst thing he could have done. Wentz, being the guy he is, took the criticism in stride.
“Coach addressed it, handled it, nothing for me that I’m overly concerned about,” Wentz said. “He addressed it in the team meeting, which I thought was really cool. I feel very confident in that.”
But wait! There’s more!
Thursday night, the Commanders got a much needed win over the Bears, in a 12-7 snoozer. In the postgame press conference, Rivera was asked about a ESPN report on Thursday that said it was owner Dan Snyder who wanted to trade for Wentz this past offseason, not Rivera.
“Everybody wants to keep saying I didn’t want anything to do with Carson, well bull****,” Rivera said. “I’m the f****** guy that pulled out the sheets of paper, looked at the analytics, watched the tape…And that’s what pisses me off, because this young man doesn’t deserve to have that all the time.”
He then stormed out of the press conference.
It feels like it was a fair question to ask, given the tumultuous week that Rivera and Wentz have had. It does not exactly inspire confidence moving forward. After all, it’s only Week 6.
Other Early Season Headlines:
Rookie running back Brian Robinson Jr. is beginning to emerge as the teams leader in the backfield
Chase Young hasn’t played in 11 months and the timetable for his return is still unclear, but it’s been reported that he is eyeing a “midseason” return, which could mean as early as the next game vs. Green Bay or the following week against Indianapolis
Linebacker Cole Holcomb is currently 2nd in the NFL in total tackles (60)
The Commanders are currently 4th in the NFL in sacks (19)
A Look Ahead:
Unless the tide begins to completely shift, my optimism for The Commanders is at an all-time low.
The owner is essentially blackmailing everyone publicly, the coach is calling out the quarterback and then yelling at reporters for doing the same while the team sits with a 2-4 record and hasn’t scored more than 17 points in the past four games.
A gauntlet awaits Washington over the next month, with games at home against Green Bay and Minnesota and road trips to Indianapolis and Philadelphia.
The Commanders will be big underdogs in each of those games and could very well be 2-8 by the time we get to mid-November.
By that point, who knows what Snyder and Rivera might be up to.
If Commanders fans plan on sticking with their team instead of joining me in #ChiefsKingdom (it’s pretty great), then I suggest focusing on the positives and injection of youth in the team.
Brian Robinson, Jahon Dotson, Chase Young, Terry McLaurin, these guys are no joke and deserve to be on a winning team. Whether that’ll one day be in Washington or not is largely up to future ownership and coaching in the franchise.
More to come following Week 12. #HTTC