The Washington Commanders will have a new play caller on offense next season. The Commanders fired offensive coordinator Scott Turner on Tuesday after three seasons.
Turner joined the Commanders in 2020 along with head coach Ron Rivera from the Carolina Panthers. The son of former Washington head coach Norv Turner, Scott Turner brought intrigue to his hometown team.
However, Turner had much to prove to Washington fans, as Rivera essentially chose Turner over the more popular Kevin O’Connell, who served as the offensive coordinator under the previous head coach Jay Gruden. O’Connell landed with the Los Angeles Rams and is now the head coach of the 13-4 NFC North division champion Minnesota Vikings.
Meanwhile, under Turner, Washington’s offense didn’t rank higher than 23rd in scoring and 21st in yards in three seasons. This season the team was 26th in turnover ratio.
The Commanders converted 35.2% of their third downs and 51.1% of their red zone trips this season. The team ranked 25th in both statistics.
The offense struggled to find an identity for much of Turner’s tenure. The team seemingly developed an existence midway through this season behind quarterback Taylor Heinicke.
However, left tackle Charles Leno. Jr. laminated the team lost its identity during their late-season collapse.
Even though the team’s winning streak pushed their record to 7-5, Turner faced criticism from fans and media alike. After the team failed to win their next four games, some Commanders players voiced their frustration about the offense’s play-calling, including tight end Logan Thomas. Thomas’ wife later shared her criticism of Turner on social media.
Rivera pushed the button to dismiss Turner as pressure increased for the head coach to make a change.
“Unfortunately, we did not live up to the expectations and standards that I expected to see from our offensive unit,” Rivera said in a statement. “I felt it was best for a fresh start at the coordinator position heading into the next year.”
The Commanders started eight different quarterbacks in the past three seasons. Turner failed to mesh with either whether it was the late Dwayne Haskins, Alex Smith, Ryan Fitzpatrick, or Carson Wentz. Only Taylor Heinicke had some resemblance of success. The quarterback that Turner worked together within two stops before both came to Washington.
Now, Rivera will search for a new offensive coordinator while the team conducts yet another search for a viable quarterback.
