Once Again, Commanders Defense is Awful. Washington loses 44-22.

The Detroit Lions came to the nation’s capital for revenge from last year’s playoffs. They got it.

The Lions offense scored on every offensive possession of the game. That’s not a typo, every offensive possession of the game, running the Commanders out of Northwest Stadium by a final score of 44-22.

The only stop Washington’s defense got was Detroit’s final possession. It started with 2:04 left in the 4th quarter, and time ran out.

The Commanders drop to 3-7 on the season. They were never seriously in a position to win, much less compete against the team they beat in the NFC Divisional Playoffs last season.

“We’re way off and that’s up to us to fix that,” head coach Dan Quinn said in his post game press conference. “And (I) also told the team, it’s for us to go away [to Madrid next week], get it together. Not the worst thing for us. We got to find solutions, where we’re at and doing that together.”

Already without several starters on both sides of the ball, things got worse as the defense lost both Daron Payne (ejected) and Trey Amos (injury) on the same play, a Jahmyr Gibbs 13-yard touchdown run in which he carried several Washington defenders into the endzone, turning a 14-3 lead into a 21-3 advantage. It was after the score that Payne was ejected for throwing a punch at Amon-Ra St. Brown.

“I just felt like, I just felt like in the moment we were being cheated, to be honest. [DT] Daron [Payne] only retaliated because the refs literally saw the first punch, you know what I’m saying,” said tackle Javon Kinlaw of Payne’s ejection. “I don’t blame him for the way he reacted, you know and tempers got to flying. I mean, it is what it is. It’s a physical game. Shit happens. But on my end, I just got to be smarter in certain situations and protect the team.”

Detroit also scored on its first two possessions, a Jared Goff touchdown pass to Gibbs, then another one to Amon-Ra St. Brown. Detroit converted four of seven third-down attempts and both of its fourth-down attempts. The Lions also kicked a field goal with eleven seconds left in the second quarter to take a 25-10 lead into halftime.

The Lions offensive onslaught didn’t slow down after the break. Goff engineered a five play 72-yard drive that ended with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Jameson Williams to make the score 32-10. A Jake Bates 28-yard field goal made it 35-10, and a Gibbs 44-yard touchdown run made it 41-16 (the extra point was blocked).

It was the fifth time this season the Commanders have given up at least 34 points in a game, and the second time in the last four games they’ve given up more than 40. At this point, Quinn has few options left, other than to make a change at defensive coordinator. Joe Whitt Jr. has been unable to create a scheme and game plan to match what his players do well. Quinn was not asked directly about Whitt’s job after the game but it can’t be ignored any longer.

“Honestly, postgame, I’m not there yet,” he said. “Want to have thoughtful answers and decisions on personnel. But like I said, I understand you have to ask that, but I’m not there yet to figure it out. I got a lot to look at tonight as we get into the week and we have this game and then a bye, we better put everything we can into this week to make sure we can play like we’re capable, fix some of these issues. And so, to me that’s like kind of where my tunnel vision is of like start with that.”

The incompetence obscured what was a good performance from backup quarterback Marcus Mariota. Mariota completed 16 of 22 throws for 213 yards and two touchdowns. He had a quarterback rating of 133.3, almost the same as Goff’s.

“I think he did great. He led us,” said running back Jeremy McNichols. “Offense, we did what we were supposed to do. You know, I think he did great just with his leadership and being in the league for this long, and being able to go out there and execute this offense tonight.”

Will a change of scenery help? The Commanders fly to Madrid for the NFL’s first regular-season game in Spain next Sunday against the Miami Dolphins. At this point, that is a very iffy proposition.

Post Game Notes:

Chris Rodriquez, Deebo Samuel, and Ben Sinnott scored Washington’s touchdowns… Detroit ran for 226 yards. Gibbs led all rushers with 142 yards… It was only the second time in history Detroit won a game in Washington…Noah Igbinoghene took Luke McCaffrey’s place as the team’s kick returner. He had 165 return yards. The most by a conrnerback since Dick James in 1962.