The Washington Commanders' 2025 season is officially a disaster.
Their Sunday Night Football contest against the Seattle Seahawks was perfect grounds for a get-right game. The Commanders brought out their throwback uniforms and honored legendary wide receiver Art Monk at halftime. More importantly, star quarterback Jayden Daniels was back under center.
It was a horrific beatdown that ended their playoff hopes. Daniels, who was inexplicably still in the game in the closing minutes of the blowout, injured his elbow.
The Commanders' season may as well be over. Worse yet, they've failed their franchise quarterback.
Commanders failed Jayden Daniels long before devastating Week 9 injury
All game long, Daniels was one of Washington's only bright spots, if you could even say that. More accurately, the signal-caller did all he could to rally his troops. On both sides of the ball, there was zero help from elsewhere.
The defense couldn't stop a nosebleed, which has become the story of Washington's campaign. Offensive drives repeatedly stalled due to penalties, a lack of separation in the passing game, and a hideous performance from the offensive line. One possession never even got started after rookie Jaylin Lane fumbled a kickoff return in the second quarter.
Daniels was running for his life, desperately trying to extend plays and carry the Commanders with his legs. He made one key mistake, a first-half interception. Otherwise, he was the least of Washington's problems, going an efficient 16-for-22 through the air while adding 51 rushing yards and a score on the ground.
Then, it all unraveled. Daniels was looking for his second rushing touchdown of the game, but got tangled up with Seattle's Drake Thomas. The LSU product dislocated his elbow, which will sideline him for the foreseeable future, if not the entire season.
Questions will be asked, and rightfully so, about why Daniels was still in the game at that point. Some have already jumped the gun, bringing out the pitchforks and torches for head coach Dan Quinn on the spot, less rightfully so. Outcome bias is a heck of a drug. Injuries are unpredictable, and hindsight is 20/20.
What's not unpredictable is that a game like this was begging to doom Daniels and the Commanders for good in 2025. The season had been trending this way for a solid month, and the dam has burst open. And now, Washington's face of the franchise has a long road towards recovery ahead of him.
The Commanders had one mission for 2025: to maximize their young superstar quarterback, who led them to the NFC Championship game as a rookie.
They failed him in every way imaginable.