You likely heard that Josh Allen won the MVP award at the NFL Honors ceremony on Thursday night. This upset some, who believed Lamar Jackson should’ve won the award. Both players had strong arguments for the prize.
However, that’s not the biggest robbery from Thursday’s annual NFL award show.
Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn didn’t win NFL Coach of the Year. We presented our case about how Quinn was robbed. Afterward, we learned where Quinn finished in the Coach of the Year voting: fifth among the five candidates.
Yes, you read that correctly. The coach who inherited a 4-13 roster and won 12 games in his first season and two more on the road in the playoffs before falling short in the NFC championship.
Kevin O’Connell won the award. O’Connell was deserving, leading the Vikings to 14 wins, and the job he did helping quarterback Sam Darnold turn his career around was super impressive. Minnesota won seven games in 2023.
The other finalists, Dan Campbell (Lions) and Andy Reid (Chiefs) entered the season expected to be in their respective conference championship games. Both finished ahead of Quinn.
Finally, the other candidate, a former Coach of the Year and Super Bowl champion, Sean Payton (Broncos), finished fourth. Payton went 8-9 in 2023 and 10-7 in 2025. Yet, somehow, voters felt he was more deserving than Quinn.
This isn’t a knock on any of these four coaches. If they walk away, Reid and Payton are Hall of Fame coaches right now. Campbell has built a juggernaut in Detroit, while O’Connell has quickly proved to be an elite coach.
AP Coach of the Year voting;
Coach
Kevin O’Connell 25-18-7-0-0: 361
Dan Campbell 19-10-8-8-3: 283
Andy Reid 4-8-9-4-4: 119
Sean Payton 1-2-10-5-11: 71
Dan Quinn 1-6-7-8-8:…— Rob Maaddi (@RobMaaddi) February 7, 2025
The Washington Commanders were a mess before Josh Harris bought the team in July 2023. They finished 4-13 during his first season as owner, firing head coach/GM Ron Rivera. Everything was new when Harris hired Adam Peters as the new general manager last January. The duo later hired Quinn as head coach, a move many criticized.
Quinn clearly got the last laugh, proving to be the leader the Commanders desperately needed. Somehow, that wasn’t enough to get him NFL Coach of the Year honors, or finish in the top four.
Quinn doesn’t care. He would tell you he doesn’t care and that would be genuine. That’s not the type of guy Dan Quinn is. He’s all about the team. Quinn would quickly deflect to Washington’s other leaders, his coaching staff, and the players for the Commanders’ 2024 success.
Quinn should’ve been the NFL Coach of the Year., or, at the very least, finished a close second to O’Connell. Those Much like the voting for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, this system is broken, too.