From being the second worst team in football, to being one win away from the Superbowl, then right back to being one of the worst teams in the National Football League (NFL),The Washington Commanders this 2025-26 season have been disappointing to say the least. Making it to the (NFC) conference championship last season, then having a three and eight record so far this season is a historical fall-off. This turnaround has completely shot the hopes of Commanders fans for now, and the question everyone in D.C. is asking is, what happened?
To put it simply: injuries happened. Injuries aren’t the sole cause of this downfall, but it’s certainly the biggest contributor. On both sides of the ball, the Commanders have had countless key injuries.
Obviously, quarterback Jayden Daniels’ injury is the most impactful. Daniels has missed five games this season. He missed weeks three and four due to a knee sprain in week two against the Packers, and week eight because of a hamstring injury. However, his most recent injury was a dislocated elbow, causing him to miss weeks ten, 11, 13 and potentially more. Daniels being hurt this season and missing five games is the main differentiator from last season.
Daniels had a historic run, racking up a total of just under 4,500 total yards (passing and rushing) and 31 total touchdowns. He broke many NFL records, including single season rushing yards by a rookie quarterback, single season total offensive yards by a rookie quarterback, and took home the Offensive Rookie of the Year award. The Commanders not having their superstar at quarterback for half the season is extremely detrimental to the team.
Some other key injuries for the Commanders that have affected the team on the offensive side are, the team’s leading receiver last year, Terry Mclaurin, and wide-receivers Noah Brown, Jaylin Lane, Treylon Burks and Luke McCaffrey. They also lost running back Austin Ekeler and offensive linemen Trent Scott and Sam Cosmi. The players are offensive cornerstones, and having them out affects the offense as a whole.
The Commanders have also lost strength on the defensive side. Defensive ends Diatrich Wise Jr., Javonte Jean-Baptiste, Dorance Armstrong (who is leading the team in sacks this season) and Drake Jackson have all been sidelined. The Commanders have also lost their top two outside starting cornerbacks, Marshon Lattimore and Trey Amos, two of the top three pass deflectors on the team. Safety Will Harris has also been forced out due to injury, which puts a hold on the start of an amazing season.
The team has lost several starters and then even worse, the backups, all due to injury. This has forced Dan Quinn, the head coach, and the other members of the coaching staff to bring up less talented players from the practice squad. This year the Commanders have lost more starters for longer times compared to last year. This past season, no starter was out for more than seven games; keep in mind we are only 11 weeks into the NFL regular season with seven more to go. This horrible injury luck is one of the main reasons for the Commander’s letdown.
However, injuries are not the only thing to blame for the Commander’s horrific turnaround. Another cause is the difference in schedule from last season. According to Keith Jennings (ESPN), this year the Commanders have the eighth hardest schedule in the NFL while having one of the easiest last seasons. Last season the Commanders opponents had a combined win percentage of around 50 percent. Nine of the 12 wins from last regular season were won by one score or less, and ten of those wins were against teams with losing records at the end of the regular season. They went 10-1 against teams with losing records at the end of the season and 2-4 against teams with winning records at the end of the regular season.
These stats help to show the relatively easy schedule the Commanders had last season and how that compares to now. It also shows that many of those games could have gone either way, which could have resulted in the Commanders having a losing record and not making the playoffs in the first place.
Another difference between the Commanders these past two seasons are the players they lost from last season. Many players didn’t resign due to contract disputes and some got traded. However in the offseason after the 2024-25 season, the Commanders lost many game changing players for them last season– partially causing this atrocity of a season.
On the offensive side, the Commanders traded away the team’s leading rushing running back Brian Robinson jr. They also lost two impactful wide receivers, Olamide Zaccheaus and Dyami Brown, because they didn’t re-sign. They also lost offensive lineman Cornelius Lucas, who played 14 games for them, as he did not renew his contract.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Commanders lost the team’s second leading tackler, safety Jeremy Chin. Cornerbacks Benjamin St-Juste, Emmanuel Forbes Jr. and defensive lineman Dante Fowler Jr. (the team leader in sacks (10.5)) also didn’t resign, hurting the team’s pass rush this season. Defensive tackle and long time superstar Jonathan Allen was let go too, hurting the pass rush even more.
There were a variety of factors that contributed to the horrendous turnaround for the Washington Commanders from last season. Whether you blame it on the injuries, the loss of players, the schedule differences or something else, the Commanders are not the same team. The shocking past season, where the Commanders got so close to the Superbowl, created high expectations for this season. However, the failure to reach those expectations makes this losing season hurt so much more for fans. Despite this, fans need to realize that this doesn’t condemn them to everlasting disappointment. There is still hope for the team. The injured players will come back, new talent will come through the draft and younger players will get more time to develop. The Commanders made it to the NFC championship game one season ago, which means even after a horrid season, the Commanders can do it again.
