The night Jayden Daniels completely changed the Commanders' trajectory

The Washington Commanders were the toast of the NFL last season, going 12-5 before pulling off two upset playoff victories to qualify for the NFC Championship game.

They were led by the sensational play of rookie superstar Jayden Daniels. His performance in his first season wasn't just enough to earn near-unanimous NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year honors. It was a historic instant success for both player and team — the likes of which the league hadn't seen in a long time.

Perhaps the only recent example that compares was in 2021, when Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals went from 4-11-1 to reaching the Super Bowl. This was the second season in the NFL for their Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback from LSU, but it was his first full one after his rookie year was cut short due to a torn ACL.

And for the Commanders, it was a win over Cincinnati that sparked their dream run.

Commanders were afterthoughts in 2024 until Jayden Daniels made a prime-time statement

In the Commanders' first two games of the 2024 season, their results were a blowout 20-37 loss at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a 21-18 home squeaker over the cellar-dwelling New York Giants. In the latter contest, the opposition was unable to attempt field goals due to an injury to kicker Graham Gano. That proved to be the difference.

Suffice to say, there was no reason for anyone to think Washington's campaign would be much of an improvement on the previous one. The team would hit the road in Week 3 to face the Bengals on Monday Night Football. They were 0-2, but the previous week they'd taken the back-to-back defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs down to the wire in a bitter 25-26 defeat. The Commanders were heavy underdogs.

That's when the hype train left the station for Washington and Daniels.

The Commanders' quarterback went 21-for-23 passing for 254 yards and two touchdowns, while adding another score on the ground. Late in the fourth quarter, while holding a 31-26 advantage, in a position where most teams would have simply tried to run the clock, he placed the ball on a string to find wide receiver Terry McLaurin in the end zone.