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John Keim
ASHBURN, Va. — Washington Commanders coach Dan Quinn said he felt the team’s potential was dismissed early in the season, but his response revealed a mindset that helped reach the NFC championship game on Sunday.
After a season-opening 37-20 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Quinn said an acquaintance told him, “Hold on. This is going to be a long one.”
“I was like, Hey F you, this is not how it’s going to happen,” Quinn said. “It wasn’t disrespect, it was disdain, and I felt a kind of feeling. … It was that we were going to be much better than what we just showed today. And eventually we’ll show it. So not to prove it to everyone or the stories of the underdog, that’s how we depress ourselves.”
And the way they got demoralized after that loss was to win 12 of the next 16 regular season games as well as their first two playoff games on the road. That’s why the Commanders (14-5) will play the Philadelphia Eagles (15-3) on Sunday at 3 p.m. for a spot in the Super Bowl.
Yet commanders still wonder whether the outside world believes in their success.
Rookie corner Mike Sainristil said underdogs haven’t noticed “how dominant we really are. I think we’re underestimated because teams might just think they’re better than us or that we’re a newer team. (But) whatever the outside noise is, it doesn’t matter to us.”
He then looked at a slogan painted on the wall that read: “Anyone. Anywhere. Anytime.”
“We believe in who we say we are and that’s all that matters,” Sainristil said.
Washington wasn’t considered a title contender going into the season — and maybe not at the start of the season — after going 4-13 a year ago. The Commanders also have a new power structure with Quinn and first-time general manager Adam Peters in addition to a rookie quarterback in Jayden Daniels.
Washington had not won a single playoff game since the 2005 season. It had not won 11 regular season games since 1991. This was also the last year the franchise reached the conference championship. They’ve had more name changes than playoff wins since 2006.
This adds to skepticism that such a rapid turnaround is possible.
“At some point, I’m sure people will start believing in us,” Washington guard Jeremy Chinn said, “and we’ll have the same thing on our shoulder. It’s the way we come into work every day, guys in this building, people in this building, the way we show up to work, people can say whatever they want to the outside We know who we have here and who we are. »
But safety Jeremy Reaves, with the organization since 2018, said they weren’t driven by doubts.
“Outside noise can be a false narrative,” he said. “When you have that belief in yourself, that’s what transcends everyone in the building. … Everyone just had that belief. There was no false motivation coming from external factors.”
They beat Tampa Bay, 23-20, in the first round thanks to a last-second field goal. They beat Detroit, 45-31, in a noisy environment at Ford Field. Washington has won seven straight games – five of which came on the last play of the game or their last play from scrimmage.
They did so behind Daniels, who threw a total of 29 touchdown passes in the regular season and playoffs. In two playoff games, he threw four touchdown passes and no interceptions – he threw just nine in the regular season. He has an NFL-best quarterback rating of 86.8 in the playoffs.
Now he’s trying to become the first rookie quarterback to lead a team to the Super Bowl. There are five others who lost in the conference championship.
“He has a rare skill set, right now, that got us into this position,” Quinn said. “When the mental chaos sets in for two minutes, in those tight moments where it can feel so tight, he has the experience of someone who has played a lot more football than a first-year player. But we don’t Let’s not get into the story, man. Is this just how we’re doing this weekend?
The historic part would be Washington overcoming nearly three decades of futility. From 1992, the season after the franchise won its last Super Bowl, until 2023, Washington held the fourth-worst winning percentage in the NFL.
But during Quinn’s first meeting with the players last spring, wide receiver Terry McLaurin said he told the players, “If you’re a tough competitor, this is the place for you.”
“I sat back in my seat and smiled,” said McLaurin, with the team since 2019. “That’s what I was itching for.”
That’s why, even though they’ve long proven the underdogs wrong about how it’s played out this season, the Commanders aren’t satisfied. “Nobody’s celebrating,” McLaurin said. “The work is not finished.”
