Dan Quinn's 4th-down confusion vs. 49ers gets roasted

Early in the 2nd quarter on Monday Night Football, Washington went for it, Daniels rolled out and threw the ball away, and the ESPN sideline camera found Quinn.

Barstool Sports

@barstoolsports

“Ohhhh that was 4th down” Did Dan Quinn not know what down it was???

NBC Sports' J.P. Finlay put the same moment out and said Quinn looked like he thought the 4th-down play was 3rd down. Picture a head coach finding out what down it was after the play, a week after his team got publicly embarrassed for not knowing how much time was left. That's where Washington is at.

PFT Commenter

@PFTCommenter

4th and 2 Jayden Daniels throwaway breakdown: 1. What a catch by sourdough Sam 2. All smiles good to see jaydens having fun out there. what its all about 3. Dan Quinn looks extremely fired

PFT's 'breakdown' is a bit, obviously. The mascot did not catch a pass, and 'extremely fired' is a joke, not a report. But the smiling hit a nerve. Hubbs noticed it in real time, and grinning after you just handed the ball over on downs is not a great look for a team that's 1-3-1.

Eric Hubbs

@BarstoolHubbs

Smiling after throwing it away on 4th down is certainly a choice

Commanders fans had already had enough before the throwaway. BarstoolNate was melting down over what he called an illegal shift on the 4th-down snap and an 'every single week' pattern, which tells you how much patience Washington fans have left for Quinn.

The 'every week' part is the Giants game. In Week 5, Washington was in field goal range late in overtime with no timeouts, let the clock bleed, never got the kick off and settled for a 27-27 tie. Quinn took the blame and said the tie felt like a loss. Warren Sharp's Week 5 takeaways show weren't buying the idea that this was a one-time mistake.

Warren Sharp

@UC5Me5Jw0nSj1qF6ZfibrFMw

“Somebody needs to suffer the consequences of botching that. They turned a win in the standings to a tie for no reason whatsoever.”

0:44

For the record, the official line is that Quinn is safe. A source told ESPN after the tie that his job wasn't in immediate jeopardy, and GM Adam Peters praised how Quinn handled it with the team on the Sports Junkies on October 19, the same day as this game. Owner Josh Harris also has a reputation for not firing coaches midseason. Still, that support is a lot harder to sell when the next national TV clip is the head coach looking surprised about the down.

PFT Commenter

@PFTCommenter

Hey if this is your first time watching commanders football implode halfway through a season, just trust me and stick around, this game is about to get alot worse

The stuff to watch now is the week after: whether Quinn gets asked about what he actually knew on that sideline, whether he puts the throwaway on Daniels or on himself, and whether 'not in immediate jeopardy' still holds if Washington drops to 1-4-1. A team at 1-3-1 still has 12 games left to play in the NFC East, but right now the conversation is about the coaching, not the standings.