For the first time since 2005, the Washington Commanders will be fighting to earn a spot in the Super Bowl by playing in the NFC Conference Championship. The deciding game will be on Sunday, Jan. 26, against a divisional rival the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Commanders have had a rough few years in the conference, but that all changed this season with the team’s new head coach Dan Quinn, offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, defense coordinator Joe Whitt Jr., and record breaking rookie quarterback, Jayden Daniels.
“I wasn’t really a big Commander’s fan up until this point, because they really just were not a good team,” senior Calvin Johnson said. “I think it was 4-13 last year. It was just an absolute disaster. But this year, we’ve got a new ownership, and I think that’s where it really all started to change. This franchise has really turned around in the last year. It’s actually a franchise that I want to root for. I’m very excited, and we won the playoff game. No one had us winning that playoff game. So it’s very exciting.”
Kingsbury, the Commander’s new play caller, has worked with popular quarterbacks such as Kyler Murry and Jared Goff in the past. Kingsbury’s popular technique of long passes across the field and outside the numbers has been critiqued in football; however, it has proven to be a successful strategy for the Commanders this season, giving them a seventh-ranked offense in the league.
“I was actually kind of skeptical of [Kingsbury] coming, to be honest,” history teacher Emily Thompson said. “I’m a big football fan, and I liked watching what he kind of did in Arizona with Murray. So, after adding him to the coaching roster, I was like, ‘Okay, hopefully we’re going to get Daniels, because that’d be a perfect match.’”
Standout quarterback Jayden Daniels graduated from Louisiana State University (LSU) last year and ended his college career with 6,725 passing yards, 2,019 rushing yards, and 8,744 yards of total offense. Daniels has helped the Commanders become the first team in the Super Bowl era to score over 150 points in week 5, earning the team 155 points to be exact.
“If he’s not the offensive Rookie of the Year, then I mean, I have no idea who’s going to be,” Johnson said. “Even though Bo Nix has made his case, Daniels is one of, if not the most, prominent reasons why the Commanders did as well as they did this year. I know that he has a lot of talented receivers, he has a couple of talented running backs, but I think that he is one of the star focal points that the Commanders are going to rally around for next year, and also he’s just really great under pressure.”
Despite all odds, the Washington Commanders have had a fantastic season and responded rapidly to the new changes with coaches and different coordinators. The Commanders have already made it past the divisional round by defeating the Detroit Lions, 45-31, on Jan. 18.
“I think as a whole, the team is a lot better,” Ms. Thompson said. “I feel like we had a lot of good veteran signings, like Zach Ertz and Austin Eckler, that people thought were maybe at the end of their career, but they actually had an awesome year in Washington. I feel like it’s kind of a new era and a new culture that was being built, which helps everyone else also. And, I feel like overall, the team has responded better to new coaching ownership and all that.”
