The Washington Commanders are looking to snap their losing streak with a Week 10 win over the Detroit Lions. Here are three keys to pulling off an upset.
1. Establish a solid ground attack.
Although the Lions remain one of the league's most efficient teams, despite losing two of their coordinators last offseason, they aren't beating teams as handidly as they did in 2024 and do have some weaknesses. Last week, the Minnesota Vikings managed to find some success against the Lions on the ground, and that's something the Commanders could replicate on Sunday.
The Vikings set the tone with their opening drive by handing the ball to Aaron Jones, who cut through the Lions' defense with an 11-yard gain, on their first play from scrimmage. Jones also had a 31-yard run on third-and-9, helping set up a touchdown from T.J. Hockenson one play later. The Vikings finished the day rushing for 142 yards on 29 carries, more than half of which came from Jones and his 8.7 yards per carry.
The Commanders are in a different situation, thanks to their litany of injuries at wide receiver. The absences of Terry McLaurin and Noah Brown in previous weeks allowed defenses to stack the box and overcommit to the run, and the loss of Luke McCaffrey to a broken collarbone makes the group even thinner. The Commanders have rushed for over 100 yards in three of their last four losses, but many of those yards, particularly in losses to the Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks, came when the score was already out of hand.
Still, the Commanders have the foundation to run the ball against a Lions defense that is 10th in rushing yards allowed per game. They're 11th in run-block win rate as a versatile backfield that includes Jacory Croskey-Merritt -- their leading rusher -- Jeremy McNichols, Chris Rodriguez, Marcus Mariota and Deebo Samuel. They'll likely need each of those players to contribute to get a win over Detroit.