Ron Rivera has gone 14-19 over his first two seasons as Washington’s head coach, but on-field matters have often taken a back seat to other issues in the organization over the last two years.
The team’s was sanctioned a hostile workplace culture and team owner Daniel Snyder faces another investigation into sexual harassment allegations made against him. Those issues have added to the perception that the Commanders are a mess and Rivera pushed back at that notion when he spoke to reporters from the league meetings on Tuesday.
Rivera said that the situation is “a lot better than people are portraying it” when it comes to the football team and that he’s trying to stress that point while working to “create a sustainable winning culture” that is necessary to truly change the way the team is viewed.
“Quite honestly I’m tired of it, I really am,” Rivera said, via John Keim of ESPN.com. “But the only way to fix it is winning and that’s the truth.”
The last winning season in Washington came in 2016, so both the losing and the off-field messes predate Rivera’s time with the organization. Winning might not erase all of what’s been wrong with the organization, but Rivera’s likely correct about the way it would shift some of the conversations.