The Washington Commanders are in Santa Clara for Monday Night Football against the unbeaten San Francisco 49ers, looking to move past a game they had plenty of chances to win. Washington enters at 1-3-1 after last week’s 27-27 tie with the New York Giants, while San Francisco has won its first five games.
Jayden Daniels makes his second start since returning from his elbow injury, but Washington needs more than another strong performance from its quarterback. The Commanders let a 14-point fourth-quarter lead slip away against New York, and those same mistakes could make for a long night against Brock Purdy and Kyle Shanahan’s offense.
Washington placed Jacory Croskey-Merritt on injured reserve Monday and activated Jeremy McNichols, Trey Amos and Jordan Magee. Stefon Diggs is active, while San Francisco has ruled out Nick Bosa and Deebo Samuel Sr.
Commanders Game Pulse will track the action throughout the game, with a full check-in after each quarter.
You can also see the full game feed at the bottom of this page, including play-by-play updates and social posts during the game.
- Washington has allowed 95 second-half points through five games, and now faces a San Francisco offense averaging nearly 31 points per game. Whatever the Commanders get done early, I’ll be watching how Daronte Jones’ defense handles the adjustments after halftime.
- With Croskey-Merritt on injured reserve, it'll be interesting to see which direction the backfield goes in. McNichols joins Rachaad White and Austin Ekeler, giving Washington options, but how the staff divides those opportunities could tell us plenty about its plan to keep the offense moving.
- Bosa’s absence helps, but Washington still has to make life easier on Daniels. The Commanders converted just four of 12 third downs against the Giants, and David Blough pointed to too many third-and-long situations. Getting something out of first and second down needs to show up tonight.