OPINION:
The Washington Commanders brought their hearts with them Monday night to Kansas City. Unfortunately, they brought their talent as well to face the the Chiefs, who are perennial contenders.The Commanders played valiantly in the first half — a 7-7 tie — but the game always had a sense of inevitability about it, and ended in a 28-7 defeat that put Washington’s losing streak at three games, with the 5-2 Seattle Seahawks coming to Northwest Stadium Sunday night.
Monday night. Sunday night. I don’t think this is what the network programmers had in mind when they made the Commanders one of their star attractions. They had visions of quarterback Jayden Daniels as their featured star — not Marcus Mariota.
Most of us had the same visions, but Daniels has missed three games, first because of a sprained knee and now for a hamstring injury. He may be ready for the Seattle game — though in the five Daniels has played, Washington has lost three.
The defense failed them in nearly all those losses and has come under fire. Monday night, they came to play. They had to at least slow down maybe the greatest quarterback I’ve ever seen in Patrick Mahomes (25 of 34, 299 yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions) — enough to at least give the offense a chance to methodically keep the ball out of Mahomes’ hands and put up points in the process.
For 30 minutes, the Commanders defense managed to do that, as both teams nearly split time of possession. But it was too much to ask to contain Mahomes when he had the ball for much of the second half, and the game ended with Kansas City holding a 34:03 to 25:57 advantage.
It was too much to ask when the Commanders only gained 60 yards on 20 carries. Mariota (21 of 30, 213 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions) gained nearly half of those rushing yards. His support — save for Terry McLaurin, who returned after missing four games with a quad injury and made two catches so remarkable that the officials refused to believe them and their calls had to be overturned — did not show up.
“You cannot leave that many chances out there and expect to win, especially against this team,” coach Dan Quinn told reporters. “I liked the intensity of the first half. I just thought the opportunities for us to make our mark, we didn’t nail those.”
No they didn’t, and the Chiefs are a team that you can’t miss your … wait a minute, I can’t write a column today about a barely watchable football game when one of the greatest sporting events in our lifetime took place the same night — six hours and 39 minutes of drama.
I was in a location with the ability to watch both. But if you were limited to one screen last night and you chose the Commanders over Game 3 of the World Series, it was like going to a Kid Rock concert when Sinatra was appearing next door.
The Los Angeles Dodgers’ 6-5 win in 18 innings over the Toronto Blue Jays ended in properly dramatic fashion with a walk-off home run by postseason legend Freddie Freeman.
In between, there 44 players used by both teams in the game; 19 runners left on base; 31 hits, 19 walks — including five (four of them intentional) by Shohei Ohtani.
That guy — he reached base nine times, including two home runs and two doubles — now has eight home runs, 14 RBI and 15 hits in 13 playoff games this fall. Oh, and he was scheduled to pitch in Game 4 Tuesday night.
This was a lot more fun than the last 18-inning postseason game I watched — the painful 2-1 San Francisco Giants win over the Washington Nationals in Game 2 of the National League Division Series.
Maybe because that wasn’t dramatic as much as it was destructive, when Washington manager Matt Williams took out starter Jordan Zimmerman — who allowed just three hits and one walk over 8 2/3 innings before walking Joe Panik with two outs in the ninth inning and a 1-0 lead. Williams brought in closer Drew Storen — two years removed from blowing Game 5 of the NLDS against St. Louis — who gave up a double to Pablo Sandoval to score Panik and tie the score at 1-1.
Nine innings later, Brandon Belt homered to right field off Tanner Roark and the game — after six hours and 23 minutes later, it was over. San Francisco had a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series and would win it in four games. The Giants would go on to win the World Series, their third in five years.
There wasn’t much that was glorious about that game. But they are writing poetry about Monday night’s Game 3.
Without Jayden Daniels, there is little verse to write about the Washington Commanders.
• Catch Thom Loverro on “The Kevin Sheehan Show” podcast.