The Washington Commanders (1-3-1) face the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football in Week 6. It’s a massive opportunity for the Commanders to put last week’s embarrassment behind them by upsetting one of the NFL’s last three unbeaten teams.
Washington coach Dan Quinn took major heat for the Commanders’ end-of-game decision-making that cost them a win against the Giants. Washington was forced to settle for a tie after quarterback Jayden Daniels was sacked in the field of play, allowing time to run out.
While Quinn is firmly on the hot seat, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan is an early frontrunner for NFL Coach of the Year. The two share a long history. When Quinn landed his first NFL head coaching job with the Atlanta Falcons in 2015, he hired Shanahan as
his offensive coordinator. The duo led the Falcons to the Super Bowl and were together for two seasons until San Francisco hired Shanahan in 2017. They’ve stayed close over the years, and Shanahan has never been shy about crediting Quinn with some of his success. He elaborated on Quinn’s impact this week.
“I’m very grateful for the time I got with Dan,” Shanahan said. “I learned so much from him. I’d say before I got there, I was so consumed with X’s and O’s and always trying to find the right answer, which I still am, but I learned such other attributes from Dan. I remember certain team meetings we’d have where he’s talking about the ball, or we’re just doing random things that don’t have much to do with X’s and O’s, and how frustrated I’d be at first, like, ‘Holy crap, I’m running out of time. I have a lot of important stuff to cover.’ Really stressed out. Then just seeing Dan’s style and realizing I’ll have time to do that, but realizing how important it is to constantly have people together talking about things other than just the X’s and O’s. Where it comes to tackling, comes to, he’d always call it the brotherhood, to guys just the way they played down-in and down-out. I think that’s what you see with Dan on every team. That’s something that I’ve really learned from him: the more you talk about it, the more you show it, the more you can get your guys to play to a certain style. He made me a much better coach that way, being able to add that importance to stuff that I didn’t realize. I knew it was important, but I didn’t realize how much you could gain with it, like you can in X’s and O’s.”
Shanahan’s thoughts on Quinn echo pretty much what everyone says about him. You can debate his win/loss record with Atlanta and Washington, but Quinn’s ability to build relationships on and off the field makes him the ultimate leader. He was the right coach for the Commanders at the right time in 2024. After a rough start this season, Quinn is looking to get Washington back on track.
Quinn’s leadership was on full display this week, taking full accountability for the final minute of Washington’s tie with New York, when offensive coordinator David Blough and Daniels were more at fault. Both Blough and Daniels stepped up, took responsibility, and praised Quinn.
Things would certainly feel much better for Quinn if he could lead his Commanders into San Francisco and pull off the upset against the 49ers and his good buddy on Monday night.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan explains how Dan Quinn made him better
