LOVERRO: Short week likely a lifeline for short-timer Rivera

I saw Washington Commanders chief blunder officer Jason Wright in the elevator at FedEx Field before the game against the New York Giants, and it reminded me of one thing he said in an interview with a website called “Boardroom” at the Super Bowl in February.

“We righted the ship, and now that ship is ready to go on a championship voyage,” Wright said.

Typically, at this point in the column, I might quote the great NBA player Michael Ray Richardson, whose place in history will forever be cemented with these words: “The ship be sinking.”

But no, that doesn’t accurately describe the USS Commanders after Sunday’s embarrassing 31-19 loss to the Giants before a sold-out crowd of their fans and their opponents’ fans, some of whom presumably made the trip from the New York metropolitan area to watch a 2-6 football team that was an 8½ point underdog.

The ship be sinking? No, no, the remains of this vessel are already at the bottom of the Potomac.

This is the kind of loss that typically costs people with a coaching record of 26-34-1 in four seasons (4-7 this year, 0-4 in the NFC East) their jobs — especially if you are the new owners who paid $6 billion for this team and want people to show up for the final three home games.

But it’s a short week, with the Thanksgiving game against the Cowboys (who have beaten the Giants by a combined score of 89-17 in their two meetings this year, including 49-17 before Sunday’s game) in Dallas coming up Thursday. Firing people at this stage may just result in more debris floating under the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

Windy City Gridiron

Commanders sign Jalen Harris off the Bears practice squad

The Bears lose a practice squad player to the Commanders.

On Monday, the Washington Commanders signed defensive end Jalen Harris off the Chicago Bears practice squad. Harris, the son of former Bear Sean Harris, was an undrafted free agent pickup by Chicago out of the University of Arizona, and he’s been on Chicago’s practice squad all season.

Washington had a need at the position when placing defensive end Efe Obada on injured reserve earlier today.

Harris (6’4”, 257) had five tackles, 1.5 sacks, and a forced fumble during the preseason for the Bears, and now he’ll get a chance to play with the 4-7 Commanders and head coach Ron Rivera, who was the Bears’ Defensive Quality Control coach for two of the years that Sean Harris played in Chicago.