{"id":662483,"date":"2026-01-08T00:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T00:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/662483\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T00:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T00:50:15","slug":"john-harbaugh-to-washington-commanders-named-best-fit-for-fired-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/662483\/","title":{"rendered":"John Harbaugh to Washington? Commanders named best fit for fired coach"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Seven NFL teams currently have head coach openings. The <a href=\"https:\/\/commanderswire.usatoday.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Washington Commanders;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Washington Commanders<\/a> are not one of those teams, but that doesn&#8217;t mean a change won&#8217;t happen.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/baltimore-ravens\/366\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Baltimore Ravens;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Baltimore Ravens<\/a> shockingly fired head coach John Harbaugh after the Ravens fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 18 and missed the playoffs. As a result, several teams reportedly immediately expressed interest in the Super Bowl-winning coach.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, Evan Cohen of ESPN&#8217;s &#8220;UnSportsmanlike&#8221; went as far as to say the Commanders are &#8220;the best fit&#8221; for Harbaugh. Of course, Dan Quinn is still in place as the team&#8217;s head coach for now, but the appeal of adding Harbaugh could change that.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The best fit for John Harbaugh would be the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/washington-commanders\/363\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Washington Commanders;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Washington Commanders<\/a>,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/UnSportsESPN\/status\/2008882363984732479?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Cohen explained;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Cohen explained<\/a>. &#8220;The front office is one that is unbelievably attractive&#8230; Yesterday, they <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/jayden-daniels-disappointed-decision-fire-192948237.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:got rid of their offensive coordinator;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">got rid of their offensive coordinator<\/a> and their <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/washington-commanders-fire-defensive-coordinator-171836475.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:defensive coordinator;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">defensive coordinator<\/a>, meaning (Harbaugh) could bring his own people in.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Cohen also pointed to franchise quarterback Jayden Daniels and Washington&#8217;s proximity to Baltimore as additional reasons Harbaugh could be interested in the Commanders.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Cohen then talked about the elephant in the room\u2014Quinn still being the team&#8217;s coach.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I believe that Dan Quinn, after next year, is more likely than not to get fired,&#8221; Cohen explained. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think you can make a move in one year that would be better than hiring John Harbaugh.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Quinn and the Commanders did have a difficult year. The team went 5-12 but was forced to deal with an insane number of injuries on both sides of the ball, and is only a year removed from making the NFC Championship Game. Quinn is also well-liked in the locker room, and there&#8217;s a possibility that team chemistry could be negatively impacted by a move like this.<\/p>\n<p>Still, it&#8217;s hard not to get excited imagining Harbaugh with the Commanders. The coach has a 180-113 all-time record and won Super Bowl XLVII. The Ravens have made the playoffs in six of the last 10 seasons, but a lack of postseason success after 2012 ended up doing Harbaugh in.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>It will be interesting to see whether the Commanders make a move or are content to give Quinn one more season. Another factor to consider is that Harbaugh is slated to interview with the rival New York Giants. The Commanders&#8217; hiring Harbaugh would ensure their rival doesn&#8217;t get an elite coach, while raising their own floor.<\/p>\n<p>This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: <a href=\"https:\/\/commanderswire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/commanders\/2026\/01\/07\/washington-commanders-john-harbaugh-potential-fit\/88066828007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Washington Commanders: Is John Harbaugh a potential fit?;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Washington Commanders: Is John Harbaugh a potential fit?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seven NFL teams currently have head coach openings. The Washington Commanders are not one of those teams, but&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[117,427,7291,20407,7,6496,734,2909,56,6,57,855,111,2480],"class_list":{"0":"post-662483","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-commanders","8":"tag-baltimore-ravens","9":"tag-commanders","10":"tag-dan-quinn","11":"tag-evan-cohen","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-head-coach","14":"tag-jayden-daniels","15":"tag-john-harbaugh","16":"tag-new-york-giants","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","19":"tag-washington","20":"tag-washington-commanders","21":"tag-washingtoncommanders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115856738018499340","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}