Dan Quinn’s on borrowed time as head coach of the Washington Commanders, but one observer doesn’t want to see the franchise replace him by repeating the pattern of recent hires. Even if it means avoiding a Super Bowl winner.
The warning comes from 106.7 The Fan’s Grant Paulsen, who wants people to “STOP TALKING ABOUT HIRING MIKE TOMLIN. STOP hiring DEFENSIVE head coaches to run your NFL team in 2026. It almost never works. Hire the smartest offensive play-caller available. That is what works. ENOUGH with the culture-building DC bit.”
STOP TALKING ABOUT HIRING MIKE TOMLIN.
STOP hiring DEFENSIVE head coaches to run your NFL team in 2026. It almost never works.
Hire the smartest offensive play-caller available.
Hiring Tomlin, who guided the Pittsburgh Steelers to a pair of Super Bowl appearances and won the title in 2008, would surely restore some credibility to the Commanders.
Credibility’s needed after Quinn’s role in the botched final play against the New York Giants in Week 5. Quarterback Jayden Daniels failed to preserve the clock for a potential game-winning field goal in overtime, and condemned the Commanders to a 27-27 tie.
Daniels appeared unprepared for the situation, and Quinn’s explanations haven’t quieted the noise. Many want Quinn gone, but replacing the 56-year-old with Tomlin could have worrying echoes of the past.
Fortunately, Tomlin’s pedigree might be enough to offset those worries.
Mike Tomlin’s Track Record Is Always Worth Considering
Paulsen doesn’t want the Commanders to hire Tomlin because the latter’s another defensive-minded head coach. That combination hasn’t worked for Quinn, who coordinated the legendary ‘Legion of Boom’ defense for the Seattle Seahawks in back-to-back Super Bowls.
A successful stint as DC for the Dallas Cowboys also helped Quinn land the job in Washington. He replaced Ron Rivera, who built his reputation on defense before taking the 2015 Carolina Panthers to a Super Bowl.
Tomlin would be a similar hire to Quinn and Rivera, but he has a stronger track record than both. His history includes never having a losing record during 19 seasons in charge of the Steelers.
Tomlin’s 193 regular-season wins command respect, even if his 8-12 playoff mark takes some of the gloss off his overall record. Critics will also argue Tomlin was fortunate in Pittsburgh, where he took over just two years after the Steelers had won a Super Bowl.
The former Minnesota Vikings’ defensive coordinator inherited an outstanding defense. A unit expertly directed by legendary play-caller Dick LeBeau, the innovator of zone-blitz pressure.
LeBeau’s presence, along with a first-round pick at quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, helped Tomlin win early and often. All he needed to do was keep the trains on the track, but that same apparent criticism is why Tomlin’s arguably the ideal choice for the Commanders.
Particularly after Quinn’s spectacular game-management failure against the Giants.
Dan Quinn Got the Crucial Things Wrong for the Commanders
Quinn let the crucial details get by him in overtime. He admitted as much by revealing the ill-fated call “came from OC David Blough. Quinn said one issue was that there was too much subbing for that situation. But Quinn said, ‘All that comes from me, what we can and can’t do. Dave calls it but it’s clear about my guidelines too It’s a breakdown in a lot of ways and it starts with me first,'” per ESPN’s John Keim.
Letting a play he wasn’t comfortable with unfold is a dereliction of duty by any head coach. Quinn obviously hadn’t properly clued in Blough and Daniels about the situation, the clock and the lack of timeouts.
Observing and protecting the big picture is the primary responsibility of a head coach. Especially one like Quinn, who isn’t going to call plays on either side of the ball.
The weight of that responsibility is tough to handle, so smart coaches keep things simple. Tomlin explained as much when he told Maria Taylor for Sunday Night Football on NBC how “as soon as you’re firmly in field-goal range, you get on the headset, you say ‘we’re solid. The kicker wants the ball here, he wants it on the left hash, he wants it on the right hash,’ wherever he wants it. As soon as you get there, you send the kicker out and you go home, and it’s as simple as that.”
Playing simple, no-frills situational football still wins a lot of games in the modern NFL, and Tomlin should know. The 54-year-old may not fit the template for what many want in Quinn’s likely and eventual replacement, but Tomlin’s no-nonsense approach and focus on getting the basic parts of a winning operation right, could be exactly what Daniels and the Commanders need in this moment.
Commanders Warned Off Replacing Dan Quinn With Super Bowl Winner