The Washington Commanders may have walked away with motivation and confidence from their overtime loss to the Denver Broncos last week, but Dan Quinn’s team collapsed in a devastating way this past Sunday with a 31-0 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
“When you get beat 31-0… it’s just bad,” said wide receiver Terry McLaurin. “We still got our division games left. We’re just tryna take it one at a time. You know we have a Giants team who throws off the records when it comes to division games. So we’ve got to go on the road and do a lot better than we did today.”
With four games to go in the season, the Week 14 loss officially takes Washington out of playoff contention.
“You stand here after the loss and try to find something good that you wanted to point to… but tonight honestly I don’t [have anything],” said Quinn, head coach of the Washington Commanders. “I told the team, I thought we took a step forward and tonight I thought we took three steps back.”
Quarterback Jayden Daniels played his first game since dislocating his left elbow in week nine. However, he exited the game in the third quarter, re-injuring his left shoulder after being driven to the turf following an interception on the first drive of the second half.
He clutched his arm before heading to the sideline, where he was evaluated and listed as questionable. But Daniels did not return to the game and finished the day throwing 9-of-20 for 78 yards with no touchdowns, and one interception.
“It’s an important development time for him. There’s no zero risk game, we’ve tried to manage that. But for the development point of it, it’s important. It was my decision to sit him. I just felt that we didn’t hit our space to be close like we wanted to be,” Quinn continued.
Marcus Mariota stepped in for Daniels, throwing an interception four plays later, as Minnesota was in the lead 14-0. Mariota finished the day throwing 2-of-4 for 30 yards and one interception.
Washington also lost tight end Zach Ertz, who went down in the third quarter after his right leg bent backward on a hit from Vikings safety Jay Ward. He was carted off and speculations have pointed to early signs of an ACL injury, and the team will know more about Ertz’s injury after further evaluation.
Ertz recorded one reception for 11 yards before exiting the game.
“That’s hard,” Quinn said. “This guy is one hell of a competitor in every way and to see the frustration and emotion… all of us are feeling that.”
Despite the devastating loss, there were some bright spots on the field for Washington.
Linebacker Bobby Wagner was a defensive force on the field. The 2025 Walter Payton NFL Man Of The Year Nominee recorded 16 tackles and a sack against the Vikings.
Linebacker Von Miller also recorded a crucial sack, forcing the Vikings to punt after the two-minute warning in the second quarter.
On the offensive side, running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. showed tremendous stride in the run game. Rodriguez led the team in rushing, recording 52 yards on 10 attempts, signaling promise in the second-year running back.
“It’s four division games in our season and it is an absolute must that we recapture that forward progress that I saw in the last week, because we absolutely did not have that tonight,” said Quinn.
The Commanders will be back on the road for an NFC East matchup against the New York Giants on Sunday, Dec. 14. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
