Ron Rivera is about to make the dumb move of going back to Carson Wentz at QB

Ron Rivera blew the game when he decided to go for a fourth down deep in Washington territory in the third quarter, for no good reason.

The Commanders coach is on the verge of blowing the season with a knee-jerk move to go back to Carson Wentz at QB.

For no good reason.

“It was an opportunity for us to see where Carson was, and he did a nice job. We’re in a pretty good situation now,” Rivera said after lifting starting QB Taylor Heinicke for Wentz in the fourth quarter of Washington’s 37-20 loss at San Francisco on Saturday.

Wentz, seeing his first action since breaking a finger in the Commanders’ 12-7 win over Chicago on Oct. 13, was 12-of-16 for 123 yards and a TD in the fourth quarter on Saturday, going against a 49ers defense that was sitting back in soft coverage with a big lead, content to let Wentz dink-and-dunk the Washington offense down the field to help bleed the clock.

Rivera had benched Heinicke, who was 13-of-18 for 166 yards, two TDs and an INT, after he turned the ball over on back-to-back possessions in the second half, both of which led to San Francisco field goals.

The game was tied at 7-7 at the half, with the Niners taking the lead on a 34-yard TD pass from Brock Purdy to George Tittle, and after the failed fourth-down try early in the third quarter, at the Washington 34, it quickly got to a two-score game on a 33-yard TD pass from Purdy to Tittle.

Heinicke got Washington back to down 21-14 with a 3-yard TD pass to Terry McLaurin later in the third quarter, but a short Robbie Gould field goal made it 24-14 San Fran on the first play of the fourth, and a Nick Bosa strip sack of Heinicke set up another short Gould field goal at the 12:02 mark that made it 27-14 Niners.

The INT on the next series led to another Gould field goal, and led Rivera to go to Wentz, who connected with Curtis Samuel on a 20-yard TD pass on a third-and-10 to get the deficit to 30-20 with 5:25 to go.

Rivera, with three timeouts in his pocket, tried an onside kick that failed, and Washington burned the timeouts as San Francisco bled the clock ahead of a 1-yard Christian McCaffery TD run with 2:13 on the clock.

The final Washington drive allowed Wentz to pad his stats.

Wentz was 5-of-6 for 50 yards on that final meaningless drive.

The loss dropped Washington to 7-7-1 on the season, still in the seventh and final playoff spot in the NFC with two games to go, with a half-game lead on Seattle and Detroit, who are both at 7-8.

The Commanders’ final two regular-season games are both at home, against Cleveland next Sunday, and then against rival Dallas on Jan. 8.

Who will be at QB is up in the air going into game-week prep for the Browns.

Rivera said Wentz, 2-4 as the starter this season, “had good command of what we were doing, he stood tall in the pocket, and got the ball out quickly a couple times and threw some good balls” on Saturday.

And he seemed to tip his hand with his excuses for why Wentz struggled out of the gate this season.

“Our ability to run the ball takes a lot of pressure off the quarterback. This is a different unit from the group he played with,” Rivera said. “There are some things that shows what he can do when he does have the opportunity to stand tall in the pocket.”

He came in down two scores, directed two drives against a prevent defense, so naturally, he should get the ball next weekend.

Heinicke, who is 5-3-1 as the QB1, is used to this happening.

He was an undrafted free agent. Wentz was the #2 overall pick.

Number two overall picks get chances after chances. Undrafted free agents … just don’t.

“I’ve heard things like that my whole life,” Heinicke said. “I try not to pay attention to it. I control what I control and that’s going out and playing as hard as I can and that’s what I feel I did. If they need to put Carson in there, OK. I’ll come to the facility every day, work hard and be the best I can.”

If Rivera goes to Wentz and it doesn’t work, it should be his job.