The Washington Commanders are 1-4-1 and we’re still talking about clock management which is a really bad sign for head coach Dan Quinn. Jayden Daniels is also catching some heat for throwing it away on fourth down, and leaving a lot of plays on the field in a game against the 49ers that Washington almost came back to win. The Commanders now enter their bye week with a lot of things to fix. Losing Terry McLaurin to a significant knee injury is the latest blow to a season that just hasn’t found a way to get right.
The good news is that the rest of the NFC East is an absolute mess. Jalen Hurts is out for the season due to blood clots in his lungs, and the reset year for the Eagles is fully on. The Giants already lost Jaxson Dart for the season, and now they’re debating going to J.J. McCarthy while Cam Skattebo was benched for a fumble vs Washington. The Cowboys don’t have any of those QB excuses, they just have an overpaid Dak Prescott. The Commanders are still at the bottom of the division, but nobody wants to win this thing, and the schedule gets a lot easier after the bye.
The Power Rankers are lower on the Washington Commanders after another loss, but they actually rose in a few after getting dangerously close to pulling off a road upset in primetime over the #1 team in a lot of the rankings. That doesn’t mean much in the long run, but the Commanders haven’t given up on the season, or on Dan Quinn yet, and that means they’re still alive in the most Washington way possible. Can a 7-8-1 team win the NFC East this year? 8-7-1?
High: 20
Low: 30
Average: 27.4
#20
Walter Football
Another week, another coaching gaffe by Dan Quinn, who yelled for this team to go for a field goal after Jayden Daniels foolishly threw the ball away on fourth down. Daniels, meanwhile, looked like he pissed his pants at the prospect of scrambling into a Fred Warner-led linebacker group. The giant wuss ran for only 10 yards in a loss. Pathetic! Last week: 20
#23
NFL.com (Shook)
Washington’s latest loss will undoubtedly disappoint its ardent fan base, but the mettle it showed in the second half in the unfriendly confines of Levi’s Stadium told me this team is more than its 1-4-1 record. Jayden Daniels’ return has opened more avenues for the Commanders to choose in their pursuit of victory, and even after Terry McLaurin was carted off with a knee injury, the quarterback managed to find success by turning to the lesser-known members of his team and using his legs when necessary. Yes, it has only one win, but this team has fight in it. Now, it needs to rely on the likes of Daniels, Treylon Burks, Antonio Williams and Stefon Diggs to try to dig out of this hole. Last week: 28
#25
Yahoo Sports (Schwab)
Jayden Daniels throwing the ball away even though it was fourth down and Dan Quinn seemingly not knowing it was fourth down at all says everything that needs to be said about the 2026 Commanders. If that wasn’t enough on Monday night, after last week’s game-management debacle at the end of overtime against the Giants, the Commanders had to use a timeout with the clock stopped with 3:01 left in the game before a fourth down play. That ended up costing Washington a valuable 40 seconds, as it ran out of time on a comeback attempt in a 23-17 loss to the 49ers. Washington has a bye coming up next, and whatever answers Quinn gives to why he seemingly didn’t know it was fourth down will be a big discussion point, not just among fans and media, but also within the organization. It seems like a team in desperate need of a reset. Last week: 25
#26
Sports Illustrated (Orr)
Dan Quinn had one directive for the remainder of this season: Do not follow up one of the most egregious instances of clock mismanagement ever with another high-profile standalone game gaffe that shows an inability to handle game management. Last week: 28
NBC Sports (Wirth)
Jayden Daniels looked absolutely lost in the first half before turning it on down the stretch, and now it appears he might have lost his top receiver for a while. Last week: 25
#27
The Athletic (Graff/Kendall)
Fantasy focus: Jayden Daniels
The Commanders quarterback hasn’t had much help this year, and things got worse Monday night after Terry McLaurin suffered what looked like a bad knee injury. Still, it has been a disappointing season for Daniels that has included another elbow injury, an inexplicable breakdown a week ago and a rally that came up short Monday night. He is 18th among quarterbacks in total fantasy points (85.7). Last week: 27
USA Today (Davis)
After their Week 5 debacle and a nearly as uninspiring first half Monday night, Jayden Daniels and Co. finally came to life, almost derailing the Niners’ still-perfect season … and maybe laying the groundwork for their own surge in the eminently winnable NFC East. Last week: 28
Fox Sports (Vacchiano)
Jayden Daniels looks closer to his old, magical self, but it all came too late to pull off the upset in San Francisco Monday night, and it might be too late to save the season in Washington. It might be too late for Dan Quinn too, since, for the second week in a row, his game management skills were exposed as … well, something. This time he was caught on camera seemingly surprised that the Commanders’ last play was a fourth-down play, as he tried to send the field goal unit on. Add that to last week’s clock disaster and Washington’s 1-4-1 record, and Quinn might not still be the Commanders coach anymore when they return from their bye. Last week: 25
The Score
Dan Quinn: It’s going to be really hard for Quinn to erase the stench of that overtime debacle against the Giants when the Commanders accidentally let the clock expire and had to settle for a tie. And it doesn’t help that he’s a defensive coach with a porous defense and a record of6-16-1 over the last two seasons. Last week: 25
FTN Fantasy (Kelley)
The first-half Commanders Monday were a disaster. But the second-half team could easily win a terrible NFC East. It’s just a matter of what team we get. Last week: 27
Team Rankings
Last week: 25
#28
CBS Sports (Prisco)
They did a nice job battling back against the 49ers, but another loss keeps them in last in their division. The heat is on Dan Quinn. Last week: 28
Sporting News (Iyer)
The Commanders are struggling most defensively under Dan Quinn in the red zone. Going into Week 6, they were allowing opponents inside the 20 to score touchdowns at a league-high 83.3 percent clip. That was rough against the 49ers, who led the NFL with an 87.5 percent TD success rate in the red zone. Last week: 25
Pro Football Network (Infante)
Even in an NFC East that might be the worst division in the NFL, the Washington Commanders’ 1-4-1 start might be too much to overcome. They fought hard in the second half to make up for the large deficit they gave up to the 49ers in the first half, but their mismanagement in the clutch resulted in yet another loss.
The Commanders could be without Terry McLaurin for the foreseeable future after his unfortunate injury on Monday, and if there’s one thing an NFL team with a struggling offense doesn’t need, it’s a serious injury to its top wide receiver. It will be very tough to Washington to crawl out of the hole it has dug for itself. Last week: 27
Clutch Sports (Johrendt)
The hits just keep on coming for the Commanders, as their Monday Night Football loss to the 49ers is overshadowed by a serious injury suffered by WR Terry McLaurin. Likely losing McLaurin for the rest of the season, Washington is still sitting on only one win and staring up at yet another lost season, one that could finally spell the end for head coach Dan Quinn and other members of the coaching staff. Last week: 28
Bleacher Report
Over the last two weeks, the Washington Commanders have proved they’re not good at situational football.
Against the New York Giants, last week’s contest ended in a tie because of a lack of communication that allowed overtime to expire. During Monday Night Football, Dan Quinn was shown unaware that his team just turned over the ball after a fourth-down attempt, with the head coach about to send the field-goal team onto the field.
Furthermore, the Commanders had an opportunity to win the game late, but an ill-timed facemask prevented that possibility. Also, quarterback Jayden Daniels simply wasn’t prepared for the pressure packages San Francisco employed to ensure the Commanders wouldn’t get a good look at the end zone as time waned.
To make matters worse, top wide receiver Terry McLaurin and guard Samuel Cosmi both left Monday’s contest due to injuries.
Injuries happen, of course. But the Commanders are also undermining themselves with poor situational awareness, a significant factor in their 1-4-1 record. Last week: 27
Essentially Sports (Hubbard)
Dan Quinn needs to go. The Commanders have talent, but they just can’t extract it. Just because he led you to the NFC Championship two years ago – and that was largely because of Jayden Daniels’ incredible rookie season, doesn’t mean he’s a good head coach. He failed in Atlanta, and he’s failing again in Washington. Last week: 27
Windy City Gridiron (Leming)
Trending: Down (But, amazingly, still not out)
I say that as someone who was about to tweet that the team looked like they’d given up on head coach Dan Quinn halfway through Monday night’s game, but then they forced a comeback and almost won. That said, they’ve experienced quite the fall from grace since they made the NFC Championship Game just two seasons ago. Jayden Daniels has looked much better so far this year, but overall, this group lacks a solid core of talent. Even though I don’t expect Quinn to get a third season as head coach, they are still far from out of the NFC East race based on the other three teams ahead of them. Last week: 28
Sharp Football Analysis (Summerlin)
Last week: 28
New York Post (Dunleavy)
Last week: 27
Kalshi
Last week: 28
#29
ESPN
Biggest issue on offense: Too many third-and-longs
Of the Commanders’ 81 third downs, 48 have been for 7 yards or longer. So the Commanders are ranked 31st in third-down conversions at 30.9%. And when facing a third-and-7 or longer, they have picked up a first down only 10 times. It’s not just a matter of running the ball better on early downs because Washington averages 4.1 yards per carry on first down. The big culprit is 16 offensive penalties on second down. Only one team (Chargers) has had more. — John KeimLast week: 28
NFL Spin Zone (Scataglia)
The Washington Commanders playing San Francisco in a primetime window just does not feel right. I am not sure the Commanders will score a point on Monday Night Football. After a shocking 2024 breakout season, the Commanders have fallen flat and have returned to the unstable franchise we knew them to be.
Much of that is due to the poor roster-building from General Manager Adam Peters. Some of it also falls on the shoulders of head coach Dan Quinn, as he’s never proven himself to be a great head coach.
Some of it also falls on QB Jayden Daniels, who can’t stay consistently healthy. Everyone has dirty hands in this franchise, and if the winning can’t start soon, I am not sure Quinn survives the season, and when you look at what happened last week in overtime, that further indicates there are serious problems with this team.
A likely 1-4-1 start is coming for the Commanders in what is trending toward another lost season.
Update: As expected, the Commanders lost in Week 6, and the plethora of silly, rather inexcusable errors and lapses in judgement have you wondering if a major coaching change could be coming sooner, rather than later.Last week: 27
Full Press Coverage (Glendon)
Washington nearly erased a 20-3 halftime deficit before losing 23-17 to San Francisco. Jayden Daniels threw for 300 yards and two touchdowns, but late chances went unfinished. Terry McLaurin’s knee injury adds a worrying complication to an already difficult start. Last week: 27
#30
Fansided (La Canfora)
This team is an accident that will keep happening over and over. They will get some interesting phone calls ahead of the trade deadline. Probably far too proud to do the right thing and move older pieces. Lot of hubris in a front office that hasn’t accomplished anything. Last week: 30
The Big Lead (Giangrande)
The Commanders are 1-4-1 and after their inexplicable tie two weeks ago against the Giants, their season looks to be spiraling out of control. Last week: 28
Pro Football Talk
Dan Quinn’s time is up. And the end result likely won’t be a tie. Last week: 28
Where should the Commanders be ranked? Let us know in the comments.