Dan Quinn, Jayden Daniels address viral fourth-down moment after Commanders' loss to 49ers

Eight days after Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn and quarterback Jayden Daniels were responsible for a time-management fiasco late in the club's 27-27 Week 5 tie against the rival New York Giants, ESPN television cameras seemed to catch Quinn not knowing that Daniels threw the ball away on a 4th-and-2 situation in the second quarter of Washington's game at the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night. 

Specifically, Quinn appeared to say into the headset that he wanted to kick a field goal after Daniels' failed pass before the coach realized his side had just turned the ball over on downs. Following the Commanders' 23-17 defeat that dropped them to 1-4-1, Quinn insisted that he "definitely knew it was fourth down" in that situation. 

Dan Quinn tries to explain Commanders' latest viral miscue

"We were going for it, and I was — I think what you’re referring to, I was probably saying, like, with the illegal shift, there’s not a penalty to go for a field goal," Quinn said about a penalty that San Francisco declined after Daniels' incomplete pass, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. "Like, it doesn’t go, like, it’s the turn on downs. Like, I think somebody asked me, 'Can we kick a field goal?' So, now we were going for it. We knew we had to go for some fourth downs to be bold in the game. I didn’t think it was gonna be a 17-14 game.
I probably thought it was gonna need 28, 30 to score, you know, to go win it. And so it was by design that we were gonna go, but I knew what happened. I think, I probably was just commenting that I remember, at least on the headset, somebody asked me, after an illegal shift, like it was turnover on downs, and Jayden saw the foul, too. He also came out and saw the penalty."

The illegal shift referenced by Quinn would have negated a successful play for the visitors, but Daniels throwing the ball out of play on fourth down made the penalty a moot point. Nevertheless, the entire sequence attracted more criticism for a coach who has been the subject of hot-seat rumors. 

A Monday morning report said that "a source familiar with internal leadership conversations told ESPN that Quinn's job is not in immediate jeopardy and, the source said, that isn't likely to change during the season." 

However, NFL insider Tony Pauline of EssentiallySports shared later in the day that "it's not out of the realm of possibility that, if the Commanders get clobbered by the Niners...Quinn could be fired in a matter of days." 

While the Commanders trailed the 49ers 23-3 in the third quarter, Washington flirted with completing a fourth-quarter rally. One wonders if the fight Quinn's side showed at Levi's Stadium will keep him safe through Washington's Week 7 bye.

Jayden Daniels knows he has "to be better" in certain spots

"I just gotta execute better in that situation regardless of a flag or not," Daniels said about throwing the ball away on fourth down in the game's second quarter, per Barry Svrluga of The Athletic. "Fourth down … don’t die with the ball, so I have to be better in that spot."

Florio suggested that Commanders owner Josh Harris could give Quinn three more games before possibly making a coaching change. One would think outsiders would know by the time Tuesday night arrives whether or not Quinn will serve as the Commanders' coach for their home game against the Philadelphia Eagles (2-4) on Nov. 1.