The Commanders may have just officially failed Sam Howell

Howell struggled against the Rams, completing only 11-of-26 passes for 102 yards, and throwing a TD and an INT. It was after the INT — which first went in and out of the hands of Terry McLaurin — that Howell was benched for Jacoby Brissett, who promptly led two scoring drives against the Rams' prevent defense.

In a twisted way, Brissett playing well was the worst possible outcome. He is not the future. He's a journeyman backup who is in D.C. to be a veteran presence in the locker room and a spot-starter if necessary. 

He's not here to play the hero in a game the Commanders had virtually no chance of winning, in a season that is now officially lost.

The only thing putting Brissett in the game accomplished is that Howell's confidence now has to be at an all-time low. With every loss, talk has been increasing about the possibility of the Commanders drafting a QB in the first round in 2024. 

Now it will be louder than ever, and one has to wonder if Sunday marked the end of Howell's hopes at becoming Washington's franchise QB.

If that's the case, it's impressive that those hopes lasted as long as they did, given how awful of a job the Commanders did to maximize him. They trotted out one of the worst offensive lines in NFL history. 

They traded away two of their best defensive players midseason. Yet through the first 10 games, Howell was awesome, leading the league in passing yards while throwing 17 TDs to only nine INTs. 

Then it all fell apart, beginning with a three-INT performance against the New York Giants at home (in a game where Howell's teammates turned the ball over an additional three times, forcing him to play desperately from behind). 

In his past four games, Howell threw two TDs to six INTs, while the Commanders were outscored 149 to 51 prior to his benching on Sunday.

Everyone knew there would be growing pains. Everyone knew, once the Commanders made their direction clear at the trade deadline, that this team would be bad the rest of the way. 

Everyone knew it would become tempting to entertain drafting a QB as Washington creeped up the boards. The objective regarding Howell still remained to give him every opportunity to succeed. 

Running out of patience and benching him was the one thing that simply could not happen. There are still three games left this season for Howell to make a positive impression, and now with a QB controversy likely looming in the air in Washington this week, it will only be that much harder.

If the Commanders decide to start Brissett over Howell next Sunday, then they will have made their bed: they are hinging their hopes on "the next guy." 

Even though it was only one month ago that "the current guy" was the answer.