The difference expectation makes

 Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera gave America an inadvertent peek this week why the Kansas Chiefs are who they are, and why his Commanders are who they are.

"I know!" you're saying, waving your hand madly from the back row of the classroom. "The Chiefs have played in three Super Bowls in the last decade! The Commanders are just a team that hasn't done (bleep) in 35 years and used to have a racist nickname! Right?"

Right.

The Chiefs went 14-3 last season and won the Big Roman Numeral. The Commanders went 8-8-1 and finished last in the NFC East, although they did finally shed their pond-scum owner, Daniel Snyder.

The common denominator?

Eric Bieniemy was the offensive coordinator for the Chiefs. Now he's the OC for the Commanders.

Who are mad at him, apparently, because he yells a lot.

Violating the sanctity of the locker room, Rivera told the world that the other day, saying that some players had come to him with "concerns" about Bieniemy's approach. It seems Bieniemy expects results, and the Commanders, being the Commanders, are used to stuff like expectations.

Strange. I didn't recall hearing anything from Kansas City about Patrick Mahomes or Travis Kelce going to head coach Andy Reid  to complain that Bieniemy was too hard on them. 

"He's so MEAN, Coach," Mahomes said, tears welling up in his eyes. "He yells at us if we're dogging it or not running a play right. He makes us do it OVER AND OVER until we get it right! It's just not FAIR!"

Nope. None of that.

And this is not to say the players in Washington are saying any of the above, either. But they are complaining to the head coach about how tough Bieniemy is, how demanding. How, yes, he yells a lot.

And I suppose here's where I could go all old-guy and rail about These Kids Today and their many faults. They're softer than churned butter! They get their widdle feelings hurt if you push 'em to get better! They get the school administration (also softer than churned butter) to fire Coach because he withheld their post-practice orange slices!

I won't do that, because it's mostly nonsense. Lots of coaches yell and demand excellence these days. Most of These Kids Today respond well to it, become better players because of it, maybe even wind up being Patrick Mahomes.

Those who don't wind up being ... well, the Washington Commanders.

Lesson for today class.