One win from the Super Bowl. The point-spread from Vegas had the Washington Commanders as the deepest underdog in the Division Round of games at +9½ points. There was 82 percent of the betting straight-up on the Lions. That means that 18 percent got paid 4:1 on this Commanders win. This wasn’t a walk-off win — rather this was a stomp-off win. The 45-31 domination over the №1 seeded Detroit Lions propelled Washington to the NFC Championship game next Sunday against either Los Angeles or Philadelphia. This is the furthest Washington has climbed in a postseason since their Super Bowl season of 1991/1992.
This was two high-powered offenses going head-to-head, and clearly Jayden Daniels bested Jared Goff in total yards at 350 versus 320, and more importantly Daniels threw two TD passes and no interceptions. And it was Washington’s defense that forced five turnovers that included four interceptions and two by Mike Sainristil who was playing for the first time back in the state where he starred in college for Michigan.
The score should have been by a wider margin, but a bogus facemask call deep in Lions territory gave them second life on a drive that resulted in a late touchdown. The second quarter was huge for the Commanders as they put up 28 points which was the most in a quarter of a postseason game since the 1987/1988 team did it in the Doug Williams‘ Super Bowl win over Denver.
Speaking of Williams, he is part of the Commanders front office. It is all part of the rebuilt front office led by new owner Josh Harris that he rebuilt with three pillars of “Culture, people, talent” in how he builds success. Harris also empowers the people he trusts, and allowed his general manager, Adam Peters, to make football decisions like choosing to draft Daniels at №2 overall in the draft just 269 days ago.
There certainly has been a culture change in Washington, and head coach Dan Quinn, affectionately called DQ, and his coaching staff have this team believing in themselves. While some might say that Washington has been lucky, Harris calls them a “We’re a team of destiny … one game from the Super Bowl.” Think about that for a while.
