Commanders Beat Lions, Advance to NFC Championship

The Washington Commanders are heading to the NFC Championship after beating the Detroit Lions in a 45-31 upset victory on Saturday night at Ford Field.

The Commanders trailed 7-3 after the first quarter, but they made a statement and flipped the game on its head in the second quarter with four touchdowns. Brian Robinson Jr. ran the ball in for a touchdown, while Jayden Daniels threw touchdowns to Terry McLaurin and Zach Ertz. Second-year defensive back Quan Martin even had a pick-six to make it a multi-score lead.

While the Lions answered with a touchdown of their own in the third quarter from Jahmyr Gibbs, the Commanders put an exclamation point on the win with two touchdown drives ending in one-yard runs from Robinson and Jeremy McNichols.

Once again, rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels delivered with 299 yards on 22 of 31 passing, two touchdowns and 52 rushing yards. Daniels is now the fifth rookie quarterback in NFL history to make it to the conference championship. He joins an exclusive club with Ben Roethlisberger (2004, Pittsburgh Steelers), Joe Flacco (2008, Baltimore Ravens), Mark Sanchez (2009, New York Jets) and Brock Purdy (2022, San Francisco 49ers).

The Commanders will face the winner of the game between the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles, which takes place tomorrow at 3 p.m. ET.