'We Should've Won More': Commanders' Ron Rivera Appreciative As Likely Firing Looms After Cowboys Finale
Washington Commanders coach Ron Rivera will lead his team onto the playing field one last time for this season on Sunday, and if rumor and expectations are met it'll be the last chance he gets to do so.
As the day arrives the Commanders' coach for the past four seasons says he's appreciative of his time leading the franchise as he points out, "There's only 32 of these jobs."
Before his time with Washington began Rivera was a linebacker for the Chicago Bears, coached for the San Diego Chargers, Philadelphia Eagles, and Bears, and from 2011-2019 was the head coach of the Carolina Panthers.
Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera pregame against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.
Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
In 2015 Rivera's Panthers made it to the Super Bowl where they eventually fell to the Denver Broncos. It's his only trip to the big game as a coach, something he'd hoped to replicate with the Commanders.
“I really felt we had the makings of enough good players … that we should’ve won a few more games,” Rivera said about this potentially final disappointing season.
And he's not alone.
Before the regular season began the question surrounding the team's potential sat on quarterback Sam Howell and whether or not he could do enough as a first-year starter to capitalize on a top-10 defense and offense loaded with weapons led by assistant head coach/offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy who brought Super Bowl pedigree with him from the Kansas City Chiefs this offseason.
Up to a certain point, Howell was one of the bright spots as the defense collapsed to the bottom of the league, leading to defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio being dismissed after a Thanksgiving Day loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
That loss isn't the singular low point that Rivera points to in an attempt to figure out where it all went wrong, but it's one of them, and the one that not only led to Del Rio's firing but was the last time we saw Howell play football to a truly competitive level this season.
Now, there are presumably just days left in Rivera's tenure leading Washington. And for as much good as he's done for a franchise he inherited as it entered the worst storm in its history, there are more outsiders celebrating his impending departure than there are those who appreciate the weight of what he's carried since arriving.
If he is to exit the Commanders franchise after this weekend Rivera plans on packing a win over the Cowboys in his baggage as he departs.
