Commanders Tried to Do the Vikings a Favor. The Plan Flopped.
No competitor ever enters a contest hoping to lose the battle. The Minnesota Vikings were 4-8 and had a better record than the 3-9 Washington Commanders heading into Week 14. They aren’t going to make the playoffs, but they certainly shouldn’t have been expected to simply roll over on Sunday either.
Minnesota took down the Commanders resoundingly, notching a 31-0 shutout. In retrospect, it probably wasn’t even worth playing Jayden Daniels, who stunk on Sunday and also left the game with an injury.
A Loss Would’ve Given the Vikings a Better Draft Pick
On Friday, the Commanders got a good bit better. Head coach Dan Quinn confirmed that starting Daniels would be back for the first time since November 2. He suffered a nasty-looking elbow dislocation, but the injury never required surgery, and the rest proved enough for him to return.
There was no denying that the Commanders were not a good team. Though flawed, they were only a year removed from Daniels winning Rookie of the Year honors with a 12-5 record. He wasn’t coming back to rescue their season, but with five games to play, the competitor in him had a chance to tack a few wins onto his career ledger.
At the end of the day, a loss would have helped the Vikings. Once playoff elimination hit — and it could have arrived this weekend — there was nothing left to chase in the wins column. Extra losses wouldn’t have affected the season’s outcome and would have nudged Minnesota toward a better draft slot.
It remained unclear who would be handling that draft choice, but no doubt maximizing its value would matter.
A Vikings loss certainly wouldn’t have been anything to lament, but the key element was needing J.J. McCarthy to look competent. Regardless of how Daniels played, Minnesota required its rookie to show something resembling future potential. He was never likely to be handed the reins in 2026, and he wasn’t a cut candidate either. Rather than wasting a roster spot, offering a reason to keep him around would have mattered.
The marching orders for Minnesota at U.S. Bank Stadium had been simple. Let Washington do what it intended by activating Daniels. Put McCarthy in manageable situations. Ignore the scoreboard on the way out.
And then the Vikings flipped the script: they destroyed the Commanders 31-0.
You must be logged in to post a comment.