Washington squanders chance to clinch NFC East and a playoff berth, loses 20-13 to Panthers

Washington was roughly 25 minutes into what could have been a playoff-clincher against the Panthers that instead was a sideshow starring Haskins — too awful to look away, with too much at stake.

The loss set up a must-win for Washington in Week 17: If it defeats the Eagles in Philadelphia in a game that was flexed to an 8:20 p.m. kickoff, it will clinch the NFC East and head to the playoffs. If it loses, its roller coaster of a season will end, the Dallas Cowboys or New York Giants will take its place in the postseason and its inevitable search for its next long-term quarterback will begin.

Because if the past two weeks have proved anything, it’s that Haskins, the former first-round pick drafted to be Washington’s future, probably won’t be any part of it.

After being demoted to third string earlier in the season, Haskins flouted his second chance by partying maskless in violation of the NFL’s coronavirus protocols last Sunday, drawing discipline from the team. He squandered his third chance by turning in one of the worst performances of his young career with three turnovers (one fumble, two interceptions) and a passer rating of 8.3 — all in the first half — before he was benched in the fourth quarter for Taylor Heinicke, who proved more effective in his brief appearance.

“It was definitely the hardest week of my life,” Haskins said in a video news conference with reporters from his house after the game. “I’m just going to bounce back and move forward, pray and get my life together.”

Haskins’s first two passes were wildly off-target, his third dropback resulted in a sack-fumble that Carolina recovered, and his first completion didn’t come until the final two minutes of the first quarter. His first interception led to a Panthers touchdown, and by the time he threw his second, the team had all but imploded in every phase.

A muffed punt by Steven Sims Jr. turned into the Panthers’ first score, when Brandon Zylstra recovered the fumble in the end zone. Washington’s defense added to the damage by giving up a 45-yard run to Samuel and getting penalized for having too many men on the field, setting up Carolina’s second touchdown. That one was a one-yard run by Mike Davis.

Then Samuel hauled in the 44-yard completion to set up Carolina’s third touchdown of the day, a 14-yard catch by Robby Anderson.

“We just weren’t clicking is what it was,” Haskins said. “I wish I could go back and change some things, but it’s over with now.”

Washington’s only points in the first half came from Dustin Hopkins, who nailed a 48-yard field goal to spare Washington a shutout at the break. He then added three more points in the third quarter, when “Riverboat” Ron Rivera — so nicknamed for his penchant for gambling on risky plays — decided to spurn a chance to go for it on fourth and two at the Carolina 8-yard line with his team trailing 20-3.

His reasoning: Whether his team got a field goal or a touchdown, it would be a two-score game. If it failed to score at all, it still would trail by three scores.

Washington’s defense turned things around in the second half, thanks to a spark from rookie and newly named captain Chase Young, who added a strip-sack and fumble recovery to the interception by Kam Curl he forced earlier in the game. Montez Sweat followed with a sack of his own at the start of the fourth quarter that knocked Carolina out of field goal range and gave the offense another chance to try to score.

For much of the season, Washington’s play in the second half has fared significantly better than the first. The offense settles down and finds a rhythm, along with production and points, to make up for some of its earlier mistakes. It happened as recently as Week 15 against the Seattle Seahawks, which is why Rivera ultimately decided to give Haskins another start Sunday.

“Remember, last week we came out at halftime and put ourselves in a position to score. That’s why I did what I did,” he said. “We didn’t get anything going [by the fourth quarter], so I decided to make the change. That’s why we made the change.”

When Haskins overlooked an open Cam Sims and took his second sack of the game, Rivera turned to his fourth quarterback this season.

“It was honestly probably the sum of the parts,” Rivera said. “There were some opportunities that he had missed. To give us a chance, I wanted to see what Taylor could do. Again, we’re still in this, obviously.”

Heinicke, a undrafted veteran who joined Washington less than three weeks ago while preparing for final exams to complete his bachelor’s degree, replaced Haskins and promptly led the offense on its longest and most effective drive to that point. With a mix of deep and short passes, with a scramble for a third-down conversion in between, Heinicke guided Washington on a 16-play, 70-yard march that resulted in five first downs and nearly culminated with the team’s first offensive points of the game. But his 12-yard touchdown pass to tight end Logan Thomas was nullified because of a holding penalty on guard Wes Schweitzer.

Washington’s second and final drive with Heinicke under center was even more effective, spanning eight plays for 91 yards, with a 23-yard completion to start, a 12-yard scramble for another third-down conversion and a 29-yard touchdown pass to running back J.D. McKissic to bring Washington within one score.

“I thought it was gutsy,” Rivera said of Heinicke’s play. “I thought he took advantage of what they were doing in terms of playing soft and allowing him to take the underneath and allowing him to hit certain throws. I thought his decision to take off and run was outstanding. I thought he had great vision; he went through his progressions and read the offense out and gave us a chance, which is all you can ask.”

But it also made Washington’s quarterback situation even more uncertain, just as the stakes increased for its final game. Washington is hopeful Alex Smith will be healthy enough to play Sunday in Philadelphia. A win over the Eagles would mean the NFC East title and a home playoff game. A loss and the winner of Sunday’s Cowboys-Giants game becomes the division champion.

Rivera declined to name the starter if Smith can’t go.

“We’ll have to see how Alex is doing, and we’ll go from there,” he said.

When asked what he would like to see from Haskins after his tumultuous week, he paused before saying simply: “Just improvement.”