49 Fun Facts About Washington Commanders

In which city was the franchise founded in 1932, before moving to Washington in 1937?

Boston never warmed to the team: in 1936 owner George Preston Marshall, angry at the small crowds, moved the NFL title game to New York, and a year later he moved the franchise to Washington.

Under what name did the franchise play 2020 and 2021, between 'Redskins' and 'Commanders'?

The club played as the Washington Football Team in 2020 and 2021 after retiring the old name in July 2020 under sponsor pressure, then unveiled the Commanders name in February 2022.

Who beat Washington 73–0 in the 1940 NFL Championship Game?

The Chicago Bears had lost 7–3 to Washington three weeks earlier, after which owner George Preston Marshall called them crybabies; George Halas showed his players the clippings before the rematch.

Sammy Baugh led the NFL in which three statistical categories in 1943?

Passing, punting and interceptions: Baugh rarely left the field in 1943, throwing as a tailback, picking off 11 passes as a defensive back and averaging 45.9 yards a punt.

What freak play cost Washington the 1945 NFL title game?

A pass hit the goalpost for a safety when Sammy Baugh threw from his own end zone, and Washington lost 15–14; the rule was later changed so that such a pass is simply incomplete.

In 1962 Washington became the last NFL franchise to do what?

Washington was the last NFL club to integrate its roster, doing so in 1962 after Interior Secretary Stewart Udall threatened to bar a segregated team from the federally owned D.C. Stadium.

Washington drafted Heisman winner Ernie Davis first overall in 1962 and traded his rights to Cleveland for whom?

Bobby Mitchell led the NFL in receiving yards in his first Washington season and reached the Hall of Fame, while Davis was diagnosed with leukaemia and died in 1963 without playing an NFL game.

Which legendary coach led Washington to a 7–5–2 record in 1969, then died before the next season?

Vince Lombardi came out of retirement to coach Washington in 1969, its first winning season since 1955, and died of cancer on September 3, 1970, before the next season.

George Allen's Washington teams of the 1970s were known by what nickname?

The Over-the-Hill Gang earned its name because Allen, whose motto was 'the future is now', traded draft picks for ageing veterans; they reached Super Bowl VII but lost to unbeaten Miami.

Which running back was named NFL MVP in 1972, the year Washington reached its first Super Bowl?

Larry Brown ran for 1,216 yards in 1972 despite being deaf in one ear, a problem found when his first pro coach noticed him starting late off the snap and ordered tests.

Which head coach won three Super Bowls in Washington with three different starting quarterbacks?

Joe Gibbs won Super Bowls XVII, XXII and XXVI with a different starting quarterback each time, then founded Joe Gibbs Racing and added multiple NASCAR Cup championships as a team owner.

Washington's 1981 head-coaching hire had been offensive coordinator of which team's 'Air Coryell' passing attack?

Washington's new coach came from the San Diego Chargers, where he had been Don Coryell's offensive coordinator in 1979 and 1980; he started 0–5, finished 8–8, and won the Super Bowl a year later.

In Super Bowl XVII, the winning 43-yard touchdown run came on a play called what?

'70 Chip' was the call on fourth-and-one with Washington trailing Miami 17–13; the runner burst through Don McNeal's tackle for a 43-yard score and was MVP of the 27–17 win.

What did kicker Mark Moseley achieve in the strike-shortened 1982 season?

Mark Moseley won the league MVP award for 1982, the first pure kicker so honoured, after making 20 of 21 field goals and breaking the record for consecutive kicks in the nine-game strike season.

What was the nickname of Washington's dominant 1980s offensive line coached by Joe Bugel?

The Hogs was the nickname line coach Joe Bugel gave Washington's offensive front in 1982; fans known as the Hogettes wore frocks and pig snouts in tribute.

Which Washington quarterback broke his leg in a 1985 Monday Night sack by Lawrence Taylor?

Joe Theismann, the 1983 NFL MVP, suffered a compound fracture of his right leg when Lawrence Taylor sacked him on November 18, 1985, ending his career at 36.

Which quarterback threw four touchdown passes in the second quarter of Super Bowl XXII?

Doug Williams had begun the season as a backup and lost both of his regular-season starts, yet his four scoring passes fuelled a 35-point quarter and made him the game's MVP.

Which sixth-round pick from the 1986 draft was named MVP of Super Bowl XXVI?

Mark Rypien spent his first two pro seasons on injured reserve without playing, then threw for 292 yards and two touchdowns in the Super Bowl to cap a 14–2 season.

Which cornerback played all 20 NFL seasons in Washington after going last in the first round of the 1983 draft?

Darrell Green, taken 28th overall in 1983, played a club-record 295 games over 20 seasons; in his first regular-season game he ran down star runner Tony Dorsett from behind to save a touchdown.

Which Washington quarterback returned in 2020 from a leg injury so severe that amputation was considered?

Alex Smith was not expected to play again after his 2018 injury and the infection that followed, yet he came back to start in 2020, helped win the division and was named Comeback Player of the Year.

Which owner presided over all three Super Bowl wins and left the team to a foundation with orders to sell it?

Jack Kent Cooke had sold the Lakers, the Kings and their arena to Jerry Buss in 1979 for a then-record price; he owned Washington through all three Super Bowl wins, and his will ordered the team sold after his death in 1997.

After Daniel Snyder's group bought the team in 1999, which company bought the stadium's naming rights?

FedEx agreed in 1999 to pay an average of $7.6 million a year for 27 years; two decades later, in July 2020, its public call for a new team name helped end the Redskins era.

Which celebrated college coach did Daniel Snyder hire in 2002 on what was then the NFL's richest coaching contract?

Steve Spurrier left Florida for a five-year, $25 million deal, went 12–20 and resigned after two seasons; the franchise then turned back to its three-time champion coach.

Which safety, drafted in 2004, was shot by intruders at his Miami home and died in November 2007?

Sean Taylor, the fifth overall pick in 2004, was 24 when he died; in its next game Washington opened with only ten defenders on the field, leaving his position empty in tribute.

Washington traded three first-round picks and a second to draft which quarterback second overall in 2012?

Robert Griffin III, Baylor's 2011 Heisman winner, went second overall to Washington in 2012, won Offensive Rookie of the Year and an NFC East title, then tore his knee in the January 2013 playoff loss.

Which head coach was the longest-serving of the Snyder era, lasting six seasons from 2014?

Jay Gruden lasted from 2014 until he was fired after an 0–5 start in October 2019, with one playoff trip to show for it; no other Snyder-era coach got past a fourth season.

Which head coach led Washington to the 2020 NFC East title at 7–9 while being treated for cancer?

Ron Rivera was diagnosed with cancer in 2020 and coached through his treatment; having won a division at 7–8–1 with Carolina, he became the first coach to take two losing teams to the playoffs.

The NFL fined Washington $10 million in 2021 after an investigation into what?

Its workplace culture was found to be rife with harassment and bullying; alongside the fine, owner Daniel Snyder handed day-to-day control of the team to his wife Tanya.

Whose group bought the Commanders from Daniel Snyder in 2023 for a record $6.05 billion?

Josh Harris, born in nearby Chevy Chase, Maryland, already ran the 76ers and the Devils, and brought in partners including Magic Johnson to meet what was then the highest price ever paid for a sports team.

Which quarterback, the 2023 Heisman winner, did Washington take second overall in 2024?

Jayden Daniels, the 2023 Heisman winner at LSU, was the second pick of the 2024 draft and won Offensive Rookie of the Year in a season that ended in the NFC Championship Game.

Which team beat the 2024 Commanders 55–23 in their first NFC Championship Game since the 1991 season?

The Philadelphia Eagles ended Washington's deepest run in 33 years and went on to win the Super Bowl themselves; the loss closed a 12–5 season, the club's highest win total since 1991.

Which team did Washington beat on the road in the 2024 NFC divisional round?

The Detroit Lions, the NFC's top seed at 15–2, lost 45–31 at home to Washington in the 2024 divisional round; a week earlier Washington had won its wild-card game at Tampa Bay.

In which town did Washington's home stadium open in 1997?

The stadium opened in Landover, Maryland in 1997, months after the death of the owner who built it and whose name it first carried; the team's practice facility is in Ashburn, Virginia.

The Commanders' next stadium, due in 2030, is planned for the site of which old venue?

RFK Stadium was Washington's home from 1961 to 1996, and a new stadium on its site would bring the team back into the city after more than 30 years in the suburbs.

Which rival's founder acquired the rights to Washington's fight song to win a vote for his new team?

The Dallas Cowboys owe their 1960 birth partly to that deal: Clint Murchison's side bought the song from its aggrieved composer and handed it back once Washington's owner agreed to support his expansion bid.

Which team did Washington beat in Super Bowl XXVI for its fifth NFL title?

The Buffalo Bills trailed 24–0 only 16 seconds into the second half, after a disguised blitz forced an interception on their first play and set up a touchdown.

Washington's 3–0 run during the 1987 players' strike loosely inspired which football film?

The Replacements, with Keanu Reeves, drew on the fill-in squad that won all three strike games for Washington; its first quarterback, a gym teacher, was a model for Reeves's character.

In 1950 Washington was among the first NFL teams to do what?

Washington agreed to televise all its games in a season in 1950, with the American Oil Company as sponsor and a network of Southern stations its owner had assembled; the Los Angeles Rams made the same move that year.

Under the 'Redskins Rule', what was said to follow a Washington home win just before a presidential election?

The incumbent party won after every such Washington win from 1940 to 2000, and lost after every defeat; a statistician found the pattern while hunting for an election note for a Monday night broadcast.

Which quarterback did Washington acquire from Philadelphia in a 1964 trade?

Sonny Jurgensen came from the Eagles in a swap of quarterbacks for Norm Snead; that October, facing his old team for the first time, he outplayed Snead in a 35–20 Washington win.

Which Washington running back told Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to 'loosen up, Sandy baby'?

John Riggins made the crack at a black-tie Washington dinner in 1985, then slid under the table and fell asleep on the floor; he later gave the justice roses to make amends.

Jason Wright made NFL history in 2020 when Washington hired him as the league's first Black what?

Team president was a change of sides for Jason Wright: as a running back he had been his club's union representative during the 2011 lockout, before business school and a partnership at McKinsey.

Which quarterback's team led Washington 10–0 in Super Bowl XXII before giving up 42 points?

John Elway threw a 56-yard touchdown pass on Denver's first play and the Broncos added a field goal, but they never scored again as Washington piled up six touchdowns for a 42–10 win.

Sammy Baugh played college football at which school before Washington drafted him in 1937?

TCU built its attack around Sammy Baugh's passing when most teams rarely threw; he won the first Cotton Bowl there in 1937, then brought that style to a pro league still built on the run.

Which baseball team's name did the future Washington franchise borrow for its first season in 1932?

The Braves lent their name because the new football team rented their ballpark; when it moved to another park in 1933 it became the Redskins, a name that lasted 87 years.

Which Washington quarterback shouted 'You like that!' after a record comeback win in 2015?

Kirk Cousins yelled it at reporters after Washington came from 24–0 down to beat Tampa Bay 31–30, the biggest comeback in club history; it became the rallying cry of a division-title season.

What are the Washington Commanders' two main team colours?

Burgundy and gold were the fixed point of the 2022 rebrand: the club decided early that the new uniforms would keep both colours, then added an all-black alternate beside them.

Ray Flaherty, coach of Washington's first NFL champions in 1937, is credited with introducing which play?

The screen pass made its debut in the 1937 title game, where Sammy Baugh threw three touchdown passes against an unprepared defence in a 28–21 win.

Which 2019 first-round pick was allowed to wear Washington's unofficially retired No. 7?

Dwayne Haskins, the 15th pick in 2019, got the number once the retired quarterback it is held back for gave his blessing, but he wore it for less than two seasons before Washington released him.