Commanders fans bask in playoff berth, first 11-win season since 1991

Northwest Stadium erupted on Sunday night when Jayden Daniels found tight end Zach Ertz in the middle of the end zone for a game-winning, overtime touchdown to send the Washington Commanders to the postseason. Families hugged, strangers exchanged high-fives and Commanders diehards of all ages woke up Monday morning with an unfamiliar feeling: the exhilaration of a playoff berth.

The Commanders, 4-13 last year, are now 11-5 — their first 11-win season since the 1991 Super Bowl campaign.

The good vibes were in evidence Monday morning on the airwaves.

Former Washington player Brian Mitchell, now a radio personality on 106.7 “The Fan,” donned a tutu. He was following through on a preseason bet that the Commanders wouldn’t win 11 games.

Mitchell was on the last Washington team to win that many games — the 1991 Super Bowl team.

“It’s fun. When you look at the whole vibe around this football team right now, it’s exciting,” Mitchell said on Monday morning. “It’s about having fun.”

An ecstatic group of players said the energy comes with the territory when you’re constantly winning games in dramatic fashion. An energized crowd at Northwest Stadium helps too — punter Tress Way said the supporters gave him goosebumps.

“I think the coolest part, and the thing that the fans have really gotten behind, is that we just freaking win. We have 11 wins, like, what?” Way, the longest-tenured Commander, said after the game. “Everybody just fights. It’s so fun; we’re freaking going to the postseason.”

The buzz at Northwest Stadium was electric as fans basked in the postseason berth led by their rookie quarterback. The comparisons to Robert Griffin III’s stellar rookie season, where the No. 2 pick led Washington to the playoffs, were unavoidable.

Daniels, this year’s No. 2 pick, broke Griffin’s record for most rushing yards by a quarterback in his rookie season on Sunday, delighting the former Washington quarterback.

“Jayden Daniels has taken Washington D.C. to levels of excitement we haven’t seen in quite some time. He has taken the NFL by storm. Taken the NFL Rookie of the Year Award. Taken Washington to the Playoffs and brought joy to the fans who deserve it the most,” Griffin wrote on X. “After years of inadequacy, Washington is in good hands.”

Washington’s winning ways have some local pundits wondering aloud whether this year’s Commanders are a “team of destiny.”

“I do think with Jayden Daniels you have a chance to win any individual game, and right now, I think they’ve got a good chance to win a playoff game,” Jean-Paul Flaim, host of the “Sports Junkies” on 106.7 “The Fan,” said.

An apprehensive John Auville was reluctant to call Washington a team of destiny, but noted that this season has been a massive success. 

When coach Dan Quinn and general manager Adam Peters took over, most onlookers thought they’d need at least two years to right the ship. Sportsbooks set the Commanders’ win total at 6.5, a mark they surpassed in November.

“They are way, way ahead of schedule,” Auville said on Monday morning. “It’s just super encouraging if you root for the team or you follow the team for them to be at this point with Jayden Daniels.”

With a playoff berth already clinched, the Commanders will play for seeding when they travel to Dallas to face the Cowboys on Sunday. 

A win would secure the No. 6 seed for Washington, setting up a wild-card matchup against the Los Angeles Rams or Tampa Bay Buccaneers. A loss, paired with a win by the Green Bay Packers, would drop Washington to the No. 7 seed, sending the Commanders to Philadelphia to face the second-seeded Eagles.

A trip to Los Angeles — a potential homecoming for Daniels, a Southern California native — is the most likely outcome for Washington, according to ESPN Analytics’ projections.