When Ron Rivera was hired as Washington’s head coach before the 2020 season, there was a lot of talk about how he would have to work to turn things around both on and off the field for a franchise that has been deficient on both fronts for many years.
Rivera led the team to a division title in his first season despite going 7-9, but couldn’t improve on that in 2021 and the start to this season has not been a good one. They’ve been outscored by a league-worst 34 points over the first four weeks and have the lowest average yards per play of any offense in the league, which has led to more than a little frustration about the path the franchise is on.
On Monday, Rivera acknowledged that frustration while falling back on an oft-repeated mantra that “it’s not going to happen overnight.”
“I understand everybody’s frustration, especially how proud this organization is,” Rivera said, via Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post. “S---, this organization’s got five championships. Are you f---ing kidding me? I get it. I understand how important it is to win. Okay? But I got to be realistic with what we have and what we’re going to do. Now, some of it we can improve on as coaches and get better at. We have to. There is a sense of urgency that these things have to happen. But they’re not going to happen until everything is in place and is ready to happen.”
The focus on cleaning up the off-field part of the organization has obscured some of the on-field shortcomings, but that probably won’t be the case if this season continues to follow the same trajectory as the first four weeks. That would make it hard to see that the team is making progress and could turn this week’s frustration into apathy for what the team will do next.