Washington Commanders coach Ron Rivera was asked last week what he appreciated about playing in the Thanksgiving Day game. He cited the downtime that would come on the other side.
“It’ll be a couple extra days to relax a little bit,” he said.
That’s not exactly how it played out.
Rivera fired defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio on Friday after a humiliating loss in Dallas, and will assume that post when the staff reconvenes on Monday.
If there was any glimmer of hope remaining after Thursday’s meltdown, it was extinguished on Sunday. Even if the Commanders win out, computer simulations do not predict they would make the playoffs.
The New York Giants edged past the Commanders into third place in the NFC East with a win over the Patriots, and the Commanders, now last in the NFC East, would hold the No. 5 overall selection in the draft if it were held today.
This isn’t the first time a season has been lost before the calendar turns to December, but the quirks of this year’s schedule will give Rivera lots of time to reflect on what went wrong.