Ron Rivera got his team off to a 2-2 start this season while facing plenty of adversity.
Starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick suffered an injury right away and the Washington Football Team turned to Taylor Heinicke to lead the offense.
The results have been mixed and his last two games have not been the best.
Sunday in particular was a tough matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Heinicke only finished with 182 yards and a touchdown, while tossing an interception as well.
The season is starting to get away from Washington and the division cannot be won in 2021 with a losing record, as it was in 2020.
That means Rivera may want to consider a quarterback change.
However, he shut down that idea rather quickly on Monday.
Ron Rivera says he's not considering a QB change.
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) October 18, 2021
That is about as straightforward as a coach can be and it looks like Heinicke’s job is safe.
The Other Options
The other option on the roster is Kyle Allen, who has 17 starts in his NFL career.
13 came with Carolina from 2018-2019, and he made four starts in 2020.
Replacing Heinicke with Allen is not some blockbuster, long-awaited move like replacing a stopgap quarterback with a top pick.
It may just be a horizontal move for this Washington team that has a defense allowing over 30 points per game.
The problems may be bigger than just at quarterback.
Fitzpatrick also went out with an injury timetable around 6-8 weeks.
So he has a right to get his job back if Heinicke continues to struggle.
Ron Rivera likes his roster and #WashingtonFootball's depth:
"I feel good with the depth we have. I feel good with the players we're playing with." He said a major issue has been having enough healthy bodies to get done what he'd like to accomplish at practice.
— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) October 18, 2021
The schedule doesn’t get much easier as Washington is now set to travel to Green Bay to take on the 5-1 Packers.
Rivera switching to Allen for that game would only hurt his team.
This may ultimately be a transition year for the Football Team.
Entering the season with Fitzpatrick as the top quarterback showed they only had a temporary solution.
Rivera having long-term success in Washington may come down to drafting a top signal-caller in 2022.
NEXT: Washington Makes Right Move To Retire Sean Taylor's Number