Talk Commanders

The shame of this Super Bowl is that it will probably be a good football game. It’s also the last football game of meaning for seven months. Those two combined will provide sufficient reason to actually watch it. Pity. This is a game between one team that is annoying and one that’s repulsive. Kansas City has become the team that’s easy to dislike. Perennial winners transform into that role. The over-exposure eventually irritates the senses. There are advertisements in abundance, hyperbolic accolades in bunches, and the inevitable winning despite dire circumstances. It’s an old formula that invariably induces fatigue. The only twist with the Chiefs is the Taylor Swift angle. Apparently some people watch the games just to see the glimpses of her jumping up and down in the luxury suite. Imagine that. The networks feed the need. Then there’s the Eagles. Gag-Ack!

The 2024/2025 Washington Commanders season will stick with most us as the greatest season in the franchise’s history that did not finish with one of their three Super Bowl wins. To make it to within one game of the Super Bowl in this season was nothing short of miraculous. What owner Josh Harris built with his philosophies of: Culture-People-Talent is nothing short of incredible. Actually all of his businesses and sports teams have been built this same philosophy, but certainly the results will vary.

In the HBSE sports empire, the Commanders are the crown jewel. The decisions on-and-off the field have scored big. From hiring team president Mark Clouse to team GM Adam Peters to head coach Dan Quinn to quarterback Jayden Daniels to lesser known employees like Ops assistant Cyrus Daniels who was promoted from his position as an intern. It takes a village, and building a winning culture with talented people is a key. Computers and analytics can only do so much — this is a game played by humans, even though the Commanders’ quarterback seemed like a cyborg at times.

Sports exist at some level to remind that logic and reason don’t always carry the day. Analysts exist to bring reason and perspective to what we observe. In a field absolutely flooded to saturation with people the desire to have a unique thought is beyond difficult. The few, and this means very few that predicted a Washington win last week at Detroit were certainly unique. Detroit was the deserving #1 Seed, rested, and playing in front of their frenzied fans. The Burgundy and Gold was Cinderella awaiting the pumpkin ride home. The Lions’ Quarterback, Jared Goff had thrown 12 interceptions all year with 5 of those coming in one game. In his previous 8 games he had thrown 21 Touchdowns versus 3 picks. Washington’s Defense was averaging right around one turnover a game. There was nothing reasonable or logical to suggest that Goff would throw 3 interceptions in this one game. But, he did. That’s sports for you.

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.

Even the most ardent supporter of the Burgundy and Gold did not have this playoff run on the calendar before the season. Washington has continually defied gravity en route to this game. Five times in a row this team has won the game on the last play from scrimmage. Five. And, these weren’t meaningless games against scrub teams. (Ok, Dallas qualifies at the moment as a scrub team. Yes, that was gratuitous…but, it felt good to see it in print.) It has been a wonderful ride. Now things get much, much harder. Tampa Bay is a fine football team. Detroit is an excellent one.

Washington’s star quarterback was born a week before Christmas on December 18, 2000. Jayden Daniels had celebrated his 5^th birthday just 20 days before the Washington Redskins won their last playoff game on January 7, 2006 against these same Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That was 6,945 days between playoff wins. The Washington Nationals had just completed their inaugural season. George W. Bush was the President of the United States. And Mark Brunell was the aging 36 year old quarterback for Washington in that playoff game.

Some four and a half months ago Dan Quinn brought his new team to Tampa Bay for their first foray into real football. “New” was the operative word. The coaching staff had been “Oil Changed.” The Quarterback was starting his first game that would count. And, the roster had been essentially “Zero Staffed.” Only the players with longer and more expensive contracts were safe from the scythe that new General Manager Adam Peters wielded. Adding to the mix the opponent had won their Division three times in a row. Their coach was old friend Todd Bowles. He is considered a master at disguising Defenses. Surely the new QB would get schooled as the new WFT got trounced into disorganization. Tampa won handily. But, the game left an impression on Bowles.

“Stand up. Get your air. Use your God-given abilities. Go win us the game.” Those sound like words from a football coach. But, that was the coaching coming from veteran backup QB Marcus Mariota to a gassed Jayden Daniels. One play later…Touchdown, Playoffs, and bedlam. If you wrote this for a play or movie it would be dismissed as predictable and corny. It was neither. It was just simply glorious.