The Commanders Disappoint, Again

Another year, another lost season for our team in the nation’s capital. But beyond the disappointing play on the field, the Commanders have had a humiliating season off it as well. Since 1999 a dark cloud has descended upon the franchise, with the name Dan Snyder. The last time the Commanders won a playoff game was in 2005. They have had an awful record of 156-212-1 (through last season), and have not come even close to sniffing a Super Bowl run. There has been no true franchise quarterback for the team under Dan Synder, and all top tier talent the team manages to acquire tries their best to get out as soon as possible, see Trent Williams, Brandon Scherff, and Kirk Cousins. This is all on top of serious allegations off the field of sexual harassment and fraud. Washington is a dysfunctional organization that fails on and off the field. 

This season seems to be the perfect encapsulation of Commanders football. The team starts with bringing in an overpaid, washed up veteran to start at quarterback, a la Ryan Fitzpatrick, Case Keenum, Mark Sanchez, Donovan McNabb, and Rex Grossman. This year’s tribute, Carson Wentz. Then the team gives you hope in the beginning, winning their first game against a terrible team. Then the free fall, losing four in a row. Then a pathetic win against a Bears team that is in contention for the number one overall pick. Then two more wins against teams dead in the water. The Commanders lose again, but it isn’t such a bitter defeat because they put up a fight against a Vikings team that is one of the best teams in the NFC. Then the impossible happens. The Commanders take down the last undefeated team in the league, ruining the Eagle’s perfect season, with echoes of the upset over the Steelers a couple years ago. The bandwagon is being loaded and the Commanders now have momentum! Two more wins against horrible teams that help lure fans into a false sense of confidence. This is the worst thing to give to a Commanders fan- hope. As soon as the fans start to believe that something will come of the season, horror strikes and the Commanders tie the Giants and drop three straight. Reality has come to call and now and the Commanders’ season lies dead in the water. The mid season surge only served to hurt your draft pick. 

This is your average Commanders season. Not good enough to make the playoffs and not bad enough to secure an impact player in the draft. Washington is stuck in a Gehenna of mediocrity. Besides the humiliation on the field, the artificial creation of team tradition and culture went horribly as well. Sean Taylor’s memorial is an insult, as it looks like a Macy’s mannequin with clothes from the salvation army slapped on, the new fight song is literally just the old one but now slightly less offensive, and the new mascot, Major Tuddy, looks awful, just truly terrible. 

A perfect summation of what it’s like to be a Commanders fan right now is the constant sewage spillage falling on the fans at FedEx field. You just get crapped on every year, with no hope for the future. The only thing left to look forward to is hoping someone will stick their neck out and buy this God forsaken franchise. There isn’t much lower for this team to sink, so the only way is up, right? Being a Commanders fan makes you a pessimist, and as far as I’m concerned, this is a bottomless abyss.