It’s not a stretch to say Washington Commanders fans had completely lost hope by the time the team was sold by Daniel Snyder before the 2023 season. Two-plus decades of losing will do that to NFL fans.
The cruel thing about how things have gone in 2025, with the Commanders 3-10 and eliminated from the playoffs with one month left in the season, was the glimmer of hope that 2024 represented.
With first year head coach Dan Quinn leading the way and a superstar rookie quarterback in No. 2 overall pick Jayden Daniels, the Commanders went 12-5 in the regular season and made the NFC Championship Game for the first time since 1991.
The franchise followed that by spending an offseason making one move after another as Super Bowl contenders by any metric. Not the right moves, as we now know, but they were certainly busy.
The result has been a dumpster fire of epic proportions in which, over 13 games, the Commanders have only seemed to get worse every time they step on the field.
Solutions won’t come until the season mercifully ends. For now, we can look at who is to blame for this mess. That starts with Quinn and general manager Adam Peters, who is also in his second season.
Commanders Coming Off Embarrassing Loss
Even in a season of embarrassing games, the most embarrassing moment to this point came in Week 14 with a 31-0 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
“We took 3 steps back,” Quinn said after the game. “Tonight, to me, none of it was acceptable.”
The most unacceptable thing was Quinn’s coaching — he took over defensive play calling for Joe Whitt Jr. within the last month and watched the defense get throttled after they’d been sort of competitive for most of the year.
“The only way I would say those seats (for Quinn and Peters) are definitely warm at the start of 2026 is if they crap out at the end of the season like they did against Minnesota,” Commanders reporter Kevin Sheehan said on December 10. ” … I don’t think that will happen because the NFL is weird and I think (the Commanders) are going to win another game or two.”
Commanders Could Land Top 5 Draft Pick
Perhaps the best thing for the Commanders at this point, unfortunately, would be to not win any more games and see exactly how high their pick in the 2026 NFL draft could climb.
The Commanders are currently at No. 6 overall and could likely rise as high as the No. 3 or No. 4 pick, where they could land Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate or Ohio State edge rusher/linebacker Arvell Reese.
While it’s a massive stretch — but not impossible — to say Quinn will be out the door after this season, if he does make it to 2026 he’ll be firmly on the hot seat when he does.
NBC 4 Sports’ JP Finlay asked Quinn when he would begin evaluating coaching staff and players for next year.
“It’s not something where we’re waiting until the postseason to begin that, so that’s already underway,” Quinn told Finlay. “A performance like (against the Vikings), man, that sets you back, that stings, that’s one that you want to get back to things right away because we missed it by a mile.”
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