Dan Quinn faces crisis after NFL sideline confusion during game

Dan Quinn faces a serious public relations crisis right now, and powerful voices are branding him an NFL sideline bungler as the Washington Commanders coach. That image stuck firmly in the second quarter of Monday Night Football when his team fought back only to fall against the San Francisco 49ers. This story may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners, so FOX News could receive compensation if you sign up or place a wager through them. The content was built by an independent team separate from the main newsroom.

The core issue? Quinn seemed to lose track of the downs during that critical second-quarter situation. He appeared convinced it was fourth down and called for a field goal, yet his offense had just executed a fourth-down play that failed to convert while drawing a penalty. The coach stood on national television seemingly ordering his special teams unit onto the field even though the team had already surrendered possession of the ball. And we interrupt this coaching nightmare to say Quinn insists that is not what happened at all. He told reporters a completely different version of events after the game ended.

No, I definitely knew it was fourth down, the coach said during his press conference. We were going for it, and I was involved in whatever you are referring to regarding an illegal shift penalty. There is no reason to kick a field goal because that constitutes a turnover on downs. Like, somebody asked me if we could kick after the illegal shift, but I knew exactly what happened. I think I was just commenting on my headset memory about someone asking about the turnover following the penalty call. That explanation went largely missed by most of the country since it occurred at an untelevised local press conference rather than a national broadcast.

What many will remember instead is simply what they saw on TV, which made the coach look terrible to the world. If perception is reality, Quinn must now work hard to repair his increasingly tarnished reputation as a sideline game manager. Just last week, his Commanders completely embarrassed themselves by mishandling a final situation against the New York Giants. They wasted precious seconds and mismanaged both the clock and the downs before settling for a tie when they should have likely won the game. That terrible scenario does not easily fade from memory and led everyone to believe Quinn was at it again on Monday night, messing up once more by forgetting whether it was third or fourth down.

Field goal, Quinn seemingly said as ABC cameras caught him while lip readers across the world translated his words instantly. Then he followed with Oh, that was fourth down. That scene played out live during the game before being dissected at halftime on both the ESPN main broadcast and the Pat McAfee alternate show. We found out at halftime Dan Quinn didn't know what down it was, McAfee told his audience in a serious tone. That is a real problem for any head coach to carry into future games.

The McAfee crew featuring Dan Orlovsky had some fun with the issue because the former quarterback yelled for Quinn to kick on fourth down instead of attempting another play. Quinn wanted to kick the field goal Orlovsky wanted on fifth down, they joked during the broadcast coverage. Dan Quinn did not know it is fourth down coming off last week, and then he went for it only to get penalized, Orlovsky said while admitting he is a Dan Quinn guy. But you gotta get the operation better if you expect winning results from this team.

This leaves Quinn in a very rough spot with little room to maneuver effectively. He will probably need to explain what happened to Commanders owner Josh Harris because last week opened the door for everyone to believe the coach can make boneheaded mistakes after all. The question now is whether owners, players, and fans believe Quinn's explanation or if they trust lip readers more based on their TV observations.