After a gleaming 27-3 veryfirst half, the Chicago Bears began to let the reins go a little bit versus the Washington Commanders Thursday night. With absolutelynothing to lose at the start of the 2nd stanza, Washington marched right down the field and caught a two-point conversion to narrow the margin to 27-11.
Then, with an chance to truly make the Bears sweat, Washington discovered itself with a completely achievable fourth-and-short inside the 10-yard line at the end of the 3rd quarter. Against one of the NFL’s worst defenses, the apparent rational choice was to go for it and shot and make it a one-score videogame with time rapidly ticking. Chicago plainly had no response.
But Ron Rivera was interested in playing it method too safe. He kicked a field objective to make a two-possession videogame … a two-possession videogame.
That old “Riverboat Ron” label feels long dead and gone.
Commanders QB Sam Howell comes up with a gutty third-down run to set up a 4th-and-3.
Despite being down 16 points deep into the 3rd quarter, Ron Rivera and the Commanders choose to kick a field objective.
Some major second-guessing going on at FedEx Field pic.twitter.com/Soa8DQuJuV
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) October 6, 2023
This simply isn’t how a modern-day coach must method football. You are neverever ensured red-zone journeys. If there are simply under 20 minutes left in the videogame, it’s time to put the foot on the gas. If the other group’s gamers are spiraling, that’s when you action on their throat.
No one obviously communicated this message along to Rivera. And it expense his group verymuch.
“Ron Rivera is no longer Riverboat Ron” – @schwartzst