Commanders Have Three Problems to Fix Before Their Season Slips Away

It's been about a month since the Washington Commanders won a game. They currently stand at 1-4-1 entering Week 7 of the NFL regular season, with winnable matchups slipping away in the final seconds and key contributors continuing to go down with serious injuries, with no clear replacements to match their high-end production. This is about as bleak as the fan base has felt since the Jayden Daniels era commenced two and a half years ago.

Luckily, the Commanders' bye week spares fans from watching the team fall even further from the greatness they hoped to regain following their miracle run to 2024's NFC Championship Game. That gives them time to tend to their underperforming, still-talented team as they prepare to kick off November with a rematch with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Adjusting to the McLaurin-Less Receiving Room

Terry McLaurin, the beloved longtime Commanders receiver who's stuck it out through one of the league's most active quarterback carousels, won't join Washington on the field for the remainder of the 2026 season. For all we know, he may have played his last snaps with the team after suffering a torn patellar tendon in San Francisco last weekend.

That non-contact knee injury spelled doom the moment McLaurin went down, leaving a receiver room that'll have to replace Daniels' favorite downfield threat on the fly. He had more chemistry with the quarterback than any supplementary wideouts, and it showed on the field between Daniels' love for the go ball and McLaurin's unparalleled tracking skills.

It's up to the coaches and the players to begin focusing even harder on Daniels' connections with Stefon Diggs, Antonio Williams, and Treylon Burks, as those look like the best functional receivers of the bunch. Diggs and Williams, as the veteran slot target and sure-handed rookie, respectively, should see an uptick in targets as remaining starters who'll each move up a peg on the scoring depth chart.

Addressing the Mistake-Prone Offensive Line

If there's one thing that outsiders get on thankless linemen for, it's blocking. They're easy targets to point to in most vague instances, despite all of the moving parts that go into putting together a consistent attack, but in Washington's case, they've really been liable to error.

Five, count them, five penalties from Monday's 49ers loss could be traced directly to a few choice blockers, with holding calls, a false start, and an offensive facemask all contributing to the problem. If they're not going to make Daniels' life easier as a united front, they may as well avoid hampering the offense by repeatedly giving up yards on second- or third-and-longs.

They seem to have settled on Lucas Patrick at center for the time being following Nick Allegretti's demotion, so the coaching staff can at least narrow down the linemen pool to those most likely to see significant burn from here on out. This position group needs discipline as much as any on the Commanders' depth chart if anyone's dreaming about a miracle divisional seizure, which they should be, in the interest of holding their jobs and making the most of the sad state of the NFC East.

Locating Defensive Consistency

The Commanders looked ready to go home halfway through that performance in San Francisco, allowing the 49ers' Brock Purdy-Mike Evans connection to open the flat up for a dink-and-dunk game that Washington never seemed to adjust to during the first half.

Evans' early injury let the Commanders look much more energetic in the second half, when they rushed Purdy into a few three-and-outs while their own offense finally surged. While the game's momentum surely played a role in the flip, an uptick in aggression up front would be appreciated.

Who are these Commanders? Christian McCaffrey made easy work of the once-vaunted run defense by repeatedly slipping through first-half holes, while the secondary's blitzing attack was nowhere to be found in blowing up the short-field passing style that they feasted on to start the season. The bye week can give these guys a week off to develop more of their identity, since, like most other broad Commanders positions, there's clear talent here.