When Dan Quinn was named Commanders coach last offseason, those who knew him predicted he would change the culture.
The Commanders’ fan base was not overly impressed with the hire and the discussion of the team’s culture, as Quinn’s predecessor had often referenced the team’s culture as well.
The head coach was asked Wednesday when he first noticed the team culture was changing.
After a win over the Bengals on Monday Night Football, the team did not return to Ashburn but flew directly to Arizona, where they worked all week for the Cardinals game.
“We were still really new as a group together, and so I thought spending a whole week to stay there, that was, I’d say, a step in the right direction,” Quinn said Wednesday.”
The Commanders bought into Quinn’s business trip and played perhaps their most focused and clean game of the season, drilling the Cardinals 42-14, raising their surprising record to 3-1.
“If you have standards about how you do things together, then you have to live those on the best of days and the hardest of days. And so, creating a standard together was an important part of creating a culture because it’s how we do our business together.”
After surprising the NFL by going 7-2 in the first half of the season, the Commanders suddenly lost to the Steelers, Eagles, and Cowboys, falling to 7-5. How would they respond?
“It’s how you practice, how you meet, how you do things together,” Quinn stated. “And so, that doesn’t happen overnight, but it does take time with people doing it together.”
“So, after our third loss to come back, knowing that many others would’ve said, ‘Hey, why don’t you just see what happens and where it goes.’ And we did the opposite of that, and we stepped right into improvement and getting better, and that’s what our culture is about. Handling the difficult times, knowing there’s more work to do, and going for it.”
Quinn shared that Doug Williams had told him that while in Arizona, he observed that after team meetings concluded, “there were a lot of guys hanging out together.”
Quinn had observed, “The quarterbacks were just in an office, away from me, going through things together. And so, coaches, players enjoying spending time together I think is a big deal.”
It is a big deal because you go to battle for your friends more eagerly than you do for your fellow employees.