It’s oft-discussed how Ron Rivera may be on the hot seat simply because of the pending change in Commanders ownership, so that’s not breaking news – and it's been oft-discussed how soon those new owners will make changes.
But here’s the in-season question: How much wiggle room does Rivera actually have this season?
“You have two guys who are essentially interim coaches in waiting if they pull the plug – so when would you do it?” JP asked.
Bish said 1-4, which EB thinks is way too early, and is where JP was going to set the bar, but EB had a different idea.
“I think the better question is what is Josh Harris’ threshold?” EB asked. “It doesn’t matter what our threshold is – what is his track record, and how many coaches has he fired mid-season?”
“Not sure, but we know he moved on from Doc Rivers and hired Nick Nurse to coach the 76ers, and to be fair, Doc had a couple years left and the Sixers were a pretty good team,” JP said.
“The difference is Josh Harris didn’t hire Ron Rivera, so there’s no loyalty, no reason to keep Rivera if they’re struggling,” Bish replied.
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“But is he going to come in right away, put his foot down midseason, and shake things up?” EB asked, with JP jokingly asking “does he have to ask his 17 limited partners?”
But yes, JP agrees with that thought, and went back to the 1-4 idea.
“My threshold would be 1-4 – if they’re there, bye, put Del Rio or Bieniemy in charge. He has no ties to Rivera, and he’s no dummy; he knows what has happened here the last few years. He’s not buying this team blind, he knows it’s Year 4 and nothing has happened.”
EB then wondered why not just do it immediately and install Del Rio or Bieniemy, which JP said would go smoothly enough…but the guys aren’t sure if “good enough” is good enough.
“I’d expect them to beat Arizona, but we don’t know how good Sam Howell is, and they play Denver, Buffalo, and Philly before Chicago on a short week, so they could start 1-4,” Bish said, “and I’d expect no better than 2-3.”
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“I don’t think those midseason moves help, so my thought would be potentially after the Falcons game Week 6,” EB said. “Best case scenario, they could be 3-3 there. They have three toss-ups, so they could be 3-3 or 1-5, so if they’re 1-5 heading into the Giants? Or maybe after the Bears game if they’re 1-4, and they have 10 days to prepare under a new regime.”
Bish kind of feels it’d be best to wait and see and play out the season – and if the Commanders win double-digits, maybe there’s no need to fire Rivera – but the new owners may want to wait a season to start making major changes.
Listen to the entire conversation above!
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