{"id":267263,"date":"2026-02-26T17:39:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T22:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=267263"},"modified":"2026-02-26T17:39:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T22:39:40","slug":"why-did-commanders-fire-kliff-kingsbury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/02\/26\/why-did-commanders-fire-kliff-kingsbury\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rich Eisen Show: Why Dan Quinn Moved On From Kliff Kingsbury"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the Washington Commanders<\/a> decided to move on from offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury<\/a>, it caught many off guard considering how well the offense was run just the year prior, Appearing on The Rich Eisen Show<\/a>, Commanders head coach Dan Quinn addressed why the Commanders decided to move on from Kingsbury, giving insight on the abrupt change what the long term vision for the team is. Why did the Commanders fire Kliff Kingsbury?<\/p>\n

Here is Dan Quinn\u2019s<\/a> full response on why Washington decided to part ways with Kingsbury.<\/p>\n

Why Did the Commanders Fire Kliff Kingsbury<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cYeah, those are tough, man, and what happens at the start where things went well. Sometimes you have to adjust and you have to change even when it\u2019s hard, and that\u2019s what we had to do on both sides of the ball. And going into it having a vision for how we want to play in 25 and beyond, that\u2019s what drove the decisions. Both Kliff and Joe are excellent coaches. And so we\u2019ve added David Blough who was on the staff here, and we added Devonte Jones who\u2019s been in Minnesota the last few years. Both these guys, Rich, are excellent coaches, man. I can\u2019t wait to get started with them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Delegating Play Calling<\/h3>\n

After explaining the changes to the coordinator positions, Dan Quinn was asked about another major change to the offense, that being his decision to step away from calling defensive plays. Quinn is known to be a head coach with a defensive background, so it was surprising to many to see him step away from that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love, one, I know I can help with the leadership of everybody. And so I like being in other meetings and being around the players in different spots. I felt for me personally when I was just doing the play calling, I felt more segmented from everybody else. And although that model works great for some people, for me best, I love when I\u2019m able to help lead the entire group and provide the support that both the coordinators need. I know that\u2019s how I do it best.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Quinn’s Draft Philosophy<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"\"
Jan 26, 2025; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn against the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship game at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Commanders now head into the NFL Draft with the No 7 overall pick. With holding such a premium pick in the draft, the conversation organically transitioned into Quinn and his draft philosophy including how Quinn plans on navigating such a high first-round pick.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is, this is not the, you know, you don\u2019t want to pick this high where you\u2019re at when you\u2019re here at that time. Okay. You know, there\u2019s going to be some really, really good players, Rich, that can help change, you know, and change your team, change how you play. And so Adam and his crew, man, they\u2019re on it. They\u2019ve got a vision. They know what to do. I like seeing Adam on game day, which is draft weekend, you know, to see those decisions. And you know, like as a coach during the game, that\u2019s go for it, don\u2019t punt, kick, all of those to go. And during draft weekend, you get to see that same space that he\u2019s in. It’s <\/em>kind of this great balance, you know, that we have together. I certainly enjoy it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

From Conception to Execution<\/strong><\/h3>\n

At the end of the day, Quinn did not sound defensive or uncertain. He sounded like a coach who knows exactly how he wants to structure things and who he wants around him. Now it becomes about execution. If the changes pay off, this offseason will look like a turning point. If not, the scrutiny will only get louder.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the Washington Commanders decided to move on from offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, it caught many off guard considering how well the offense was run just the year prior, Appearing on The Rich Eisen Show, Commanders head coach Dan Quinn addressed why the Commanders decided to move on from Kingsbury, giving insight on the abrupt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5774,"featured_media":267302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6431,8896],"tags":[217,4599,8996],"class_list":["post-267263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-teams","category-washington-commanders","tag-dan-quinn","tag-kliff-kingsbury","tag-washington-commanders-news"],"modified_by":"Mike Roberts","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5774"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267263"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":267306,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267263\/revisions\/267306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}