Washington Commanders Cut Ties With OC Scott Turner After Almost Making Playoffs

Another coach overseeing Carson Wentz has bit the dust.

The Washington Commanders announced Tuesday that they have cut ties with offensive coordinator Scott Turner, days after the season concluded and with Washington missing the playoffs yet again because of their uninspired offensive attack.

Largely known for their defense, the Commanders found themselves frequently stumped by their inefficiencies in the passing attack. Some of this was chalked up to a cast of unreliable signal-callers, including Wentz and Taylor Heinicke, but pulling the strings behind the disaster was Scott Turner, whose father Norv Turner was also fired from the team after serving as HC from 1994 to 2000.

Commanders fans were delighted to hear the news.

Washington frequently landed at the bottom of offensive rankings with Turner at the helm these past three seasons. The team went 21-28-1 in that stretch.

Scott previously worked with head coach Ron Rivera in Carolina as the quarterbacks coach. He received a four-game tryout as Panthers OC after Rivera was fired by Carolina during the season. After Rivera joined Washington in 2020, he offered Turner a job to come with him.

Rivera released a statement on the team's decision to relieve Turner:

"I met with Coach Turner today and informed him that we will be moving in another direction going forward with the offensive coordinator position," Rivera said. "Unfortunately, we did not live up to the expectations and standard that I expected to see from our offensive unit. I felt it was best for a fresh start at the coordinator position heading into next year."

He added, "I have a tremendous amount of respect for Scott, and thanked him for his three years of service to our organization. I wish Scott and his family all the best in the future."

Will Washington's Problems End With Turner's Firing?

Turner and the offense found themselves under the cleat of an unreliable Carson Wentz, who led the team to a 2-4 start in his first six games. Once Wentz was injured with a right-hand injury, and the group returned to Taylor Heinicke under center, Turner started to lean on his running backs room, which led to a spurt of offensive production during a late-year, four-game stretch where the Commanders went 3-1.

Washington went 1-3 to close the year, missed out on the postseason, and was at the bottom of the NFC East.

After the season finale, Turner spoke on the third-down poor offense and the team's lopsided identity without a consistent scheme.

"We didn’t do the things that we wanted to do this year," Turner said via The Washington Post.

"... I’m accountable for that as much as anybody. ... I think that there’s a lot of room to grow and I look forward to working with these guys and continue to get better and keep improving and get this team where we want it to be."

(Photo by John McDonnell/The Washington Post via Getty Images)