Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera has officially been fired by new owner Josh Harris and his group following a 35-10 Week 18 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, per Ian Rapoport. Rivera’s tenure in Washington ends after four seasons and a 26-40-1 record over 66 games.

“Sources: The #Commanders are moving on from coach Ron Rivera after four seasons, as owner Josh Harris informed him of his fate just now. Washington heads in a new direction. The expected move now official.”

Rivera never had a winning record with the Commanders. His best season record-wise was 2022 when the team finished 8-8-1, and results-wise, 2020, when the team finished 7-9 but won the brutally bad NFC East that season.

The head coach’s biggest accomplishment during his stint in Washington was keeping the team and football staff focused on football as scandal swirled around former owner Dan Snyder. When Josh Harris and his group took over in July 2023, it was too close to the new season to fire Rivera and hire a new head coach, so the former NFL linebacker got another season to impress the new management.

At 4-13, the Commanders did not have a good year, though, so Ron Rivera being fired is something all NFL watchers have seen coming for a long time now.

Ron Rivera’s NFL head coaching career may be over

Ron Rivera

Ron Rivera, who turned 62 on the day the Commanders played the Cowboys in Week 18, has been in the NFL for just a few months short of 40 years. The linebacker out of Cal was a second-round pick of the Chicago Bears in the 1984 NFL Draft.

After a solid nine-year pro football career, Rivera would retire in 1992 and become a Bears defensive quality control assistant in 1997.

That job would lead to a stint as linebackers coach for the Philadelphia Eagles before Rivera became defensive coordinator for the Bears then San Diego Chargers. His success with those defenses led to the then-49-year-old getting his first head coaching job with the Carolina Panthers.

Rivera spent nine seasons with the Panthers, posting a 76-62-1 record and making a Super Bowl appearance at the end of the 2015 season. The Carolina headman won AP Coach of the Year in 2013 and 2015. During this time, Rivera built a reputation for aggressive, risky decisions in big moments, earning the nickname “Riverboat Ron.”

Despite several seasons of big success, though, Rivera’s teams struggled more often than not. In 13 total NFL head coaching campaigns, Rivera has only posted three winning seasons.

With this fact, the recent struggles in Washington, and his age, it is hard to see Ron Rivera ever getting an NFL head coaching job again after being fired by the Commanders Monday.