After reaching the NFC Championship Game back in 2024, the Washington Commanders have started the 2026 season 0-2 following their 5-12 season in 2025. With quarterback Jayden Daniels out and the Commanders about to play the Super Bowl Champions on Sunday, CBS has named Washington head coach Dan Quinn as one of the top coaches
in the NFL on the hot seat. In fact, it ranks him No. 4 on its hot-seat list.Here is what CBS analyst Tyler Sullivan had to say about Quinn:
“Quinn may get the benefit of the doubt because of Jayden Daniels' elbow injury, but the start of the 2026 season has been pretty rough for the head coach. The franchise is 0-2 for the first time since 2019 and is now just 2-12 over their last 14 games played. To make matters worse,
this 0-2 start has come against NFC East teams, digging them into an early hole in the division race.
Quinn is a defensive-minded coach, and the unit has shown little improvement in the first couple of weeks this season. The 30.5 points allowed per game are the fourth-highest in the league. Meanwhile, opposing quarterbacks have averaged a league-high 137.1 passer rating against this Washington secondary. The Commanders are one of just three teams that have yet to generate a turnover. Again, this is supposed to be Quinn's specialty, so seeing deficiencies here is jarring.
Then, there are some befuddling coaching decisions. For instance, Quinn should have probably taken the points against Dallas right before the half and opted for a field goal. That would've cut it to a 17-13 Cowboys lead at the break, with Washington getting the ball to start the third with the chance to take the lead. Instead, he kept the offense on the field for the third-and-goal attempt from the Dallas 1-yard line and couldn't convert. To add insult to injury, that was the play on which Daniels suffered the elbow injury.”
First, Sullivan misses the mark with his comments about Quinn’s decision to go for it just before halftime against the Cowboys. Quinn is known as an aggressive coach who takes risks on fourth downs, so it is no surprise to see him go for the touchdown just before halftime in this game. If Washington had scored, they would have tied the game and had a chance to take the lead with a touchdown or a field goal at the start of the second half. Given how Daniels was playing, it's easy to see why Quinn thought they could get into the end zone.
It is also difficult to evaluate how Quinn has performed as a head coach because of the Commanders’ injuries on both sides of the ball over the past two years. When they weren’t plagued by injuries, they reached the NFC Championship. Being short-handed on offense puts more pressure on the defense, which could explain some of the defensive concerns.
However, the lack of turnovers is a problem, especially since they had only 10 takeaways all last season, and it took until Week 4 for that to happen. Coverage issues are also a major concern for the Commanders and could be a problem against Jaxon Smith-Njigba when they face the Seattle Seahawks.
This is only Quinn’s third year with the Commanders, and when they had a healthy roster in 2024, he had a lot of success with this team. Washington is trying to rebuild defensively, and that takes time. It is just a matter of how much time the Commanders are willing to give him.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Where is Commanders' Dan Quinn on the NFL's hot seat rankings?
