The Washington Commanders are a professional American football franchise based in the Washington metropolitan area. They are members of the East division in the National Football Conference (NFC) of the National Football League (NFL). The Commanders were founded in as the Boston Braves, named after the local baseball franchise.[1] The franchise changed its name the following year to the Redskins and moved to Washington, D.C. in . In, the team retired the Redskins name after longstanding controversies surrounding it and briefly played as the Washington Football Team before rebranding as the Commanders in .
Over 93 seasons, the Commanders have a regular season record of and a playoff record of .[2] They have won three Super Bowls (XVII, XXII, and XXVI), two NFC championships, and 15 NFC East divisional titles.[3] [4] Before the AFL and NFL merged in 1970,[5] Washington won two NFL Championships (1937 and 1942). They also played in and lost the 1936, 1940, 1943, and 1945 Championship games. Only five teams have appeared in more Super Bowls than Washington: the New England Patriots (11), Dallas Cowboys (eight), Pittsburgh Steelers (eight), Denver Broncos (eight), and San Francisco 49ers (seven); Washington's five appearances are tied with the Green Bay Packers, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Rams, Miami Dolphins, and New York Giants.[6]
All of the franchise's championships were attained during two 10-year spans. The first period of success was from 1936 to 1945, when they went to the NFL Championship six times, winning two of them. The second period of success was from 1982 and 1991, when they appeared in the postseason seven times, captured four Conference titles, and won three Super Bowls. This period included the 1983 and 1991 seasons, when the team won 14 games, the most the team have won in a single season.[2] Washington has also experienced periods of extended failure in its history. The most notable period of continued failure was from 1946 to 1970, when they posted only four winning seasons and did not have a single postseason appearance.[2] During this period, they went without a single winning season between 1956 to 1968 and posted their worst regular-season record in franchise history, going 1–12–1 in 1961.[2] Since their last Super Bowl win in 1991, Washington has only four playoff wins and only three seasons with 10 or more wins.[2]
| NFL champions (1920–1969) § | Super Bowl champions (1970–present) * | Conference champions # | Division champions | Wild card berth ^ |
| Conference | Division | Regular season | Playoff results | Head coach | Awards | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | |||||||||||
| scope=row | 1932 | — | — | 4th | 4 | 4 | 2 | — | Lud Wray | — | [7] |
| scope=row | 1933 | — | East | 3rd | 5 | 5 | 2 | — | Lone Star Dietz | — | [8] |
| scope=row | 1934 | — | East | 2nd | 6 | 6 | 0 | — | — | [9] | |
| scope=row | 1935 | — | East | 4th | 2 | 8 | 1 | — | Eddie Casey | — | [10] |
| scope=row | 1936 | — | East | 1st | 7 | 5 | 0 | Lost NFL Championship (Packers) 21–6 | Ray Flaherty | — | [11] |
| scope=row | 1937 | — | East | 1st | 8 | 3 | 0 | Won NFL Championship (1) (at Bears) 28–21 | — | [12] | |
| scope=row | 1938 | — | East | 2nd | 6 | 3 | 2 | — | — | [13] | |
| scope=row | 1939 | — | East | 2nd | 8 | 2 | 1 | — | — | [14] | |
| scope=row | 1940 | — | East | 1st | 9 | 2 | 0 | Lost NFL Championship (Bears) 73–0 | — | [15] | |
| scope=row | 1941 | — | East | 3rd | 6 | 5 | 0 | — | — | [16] | |
| scope=row | 1942 | — | East | 1st | 10 | 1 | 0 | Won NFL Championship (2) (Bears) 14–6 | — | [17] | |
| scope=row | 1943 | — | East | 1st | 6 | 3 | 1 | Won Divisional playoff (at Giants) 28–0 Lost NFL Championship (at Bears) 41–21 | Dutch Bergman | — | [18] |
| scope=row | 1944 | — | East | 3rd | 6 | 3 | 1 | — | Dudley DeGroot | — | [19] |
| scope=row | 1945 | — | East | 1st | 8 | 2 | 0 | Lost NFL Championship (at Rams) 15–14 | — | [20] | |
| scope=row | 1946 | — | East | T-3rd | 5 | 5 | 1 | — | Turk Edwards | — | [21] |
| scope=row | 1947 | — | East | 4th | 4 | 8 | 0 | — | — | [22] | |
| scope=row | 1948 | — | East | 2nd | 7 | 5 | 0 | — | — | [23] | |
| scope=row | 1949 | — | East | 4th | 4 | 7 | 1 | — | John Whelchel (3–3–1) Herman Ball (1–4) | — | [24] |
| scope=row | 1950 | American | — | 6th | 3 | 9 | 0 | — | Herman Ball | — | [25] |
| scope=row | 1951 | American | — | 3rd | 5 | 7 | 0 | — | Herman Ball (0–3) Dick Todd (5–4) | — | [26] |
| scope=row | 1952 | American | — | T-5th | 4 | 8 | 0 | — | Curly Lambeau | — | [27] |
| scope=row | 1953 | Eastern | — | 3rd | 6 | 5 | 1 | — | — | [28] | |
| scope=row | 1954 | Eastern | — | 5th | 3 | 9 | 0 | — | Joe Kuharich | — | [29] |
| scope=row | 1955 | Eastern | — | 2nd | 8 | 4 | 0 | — | Joe Kuharich [30] [31] | [32] | |
| scope=row | 1956 | Eastern | — | 3rd | 6 | 6 | 0 | — | — | [33] | |
| scope=row | 1957 | Eastern | — | 4th | 5 | 6 | 1 | — | — | [34] | |
| scope=row | 1958 | Eastern | — | 4th | 4 | 7 | 1 | — | — | [35] | |
| scope=row | 1959 | Eastern | — | 5th | 3 | 9 | 0 | — | Mike Nixon | — | [36] |
| scope=row | 1960 | Eastern | — | 6th | 1 | 9 | 2 | — | — | [37] | |
| scope=row | 1961 | Eastern | — | 7th | 1 | 12 | 1 | — | Bill McPeak | — | [38] |
| scope=row | 1962 | Eastern | — | 4th | 5 | 7 | 2 | — | — | [39] | |
| scope=row | 1963 | Eastern | — | 6th | 3 | 11 | 0 | — | — | [40] | |
| scope=row | 1964 | Eastern | — | T-3rd | 6 | 8 | 0 | — | Charley Taylor (ROY)[41] [42] | [43] | |
| scope=row | 1965 | Eastern | — | 4th | 6 | 8 | 0 | — | — | [44] | |
| scope=row | 1966 | Eastern | — | 5th | 7 | 7 | 0 | — | Otto Graham | — | [45] |
| scope=row | 1967 | Eastern | Capitol | 3rd | 5 | 6 | 3 | — | — | [46] | |
| scope=row | 1968 | Eastern | Capitol | 3rd | 5 | 9 | 0 | — | — | [47] | |
| scope=row | 1969 | Eastern | Capitol | 2nd | 7 | 5 | 2 | — | Vince Lombardi | — | [48] |
| scope=row | 1970 | NFC | East | 4th | 6 | 8 | 0 | — | Bill Austin | — | [49] |
| scope=row | 1971 | NFC | East | 2nd^ | 9 | 4 | 1 | Lost Divisional Playoffs (at 49ers) 24–20 | George Allen | George Allen [50] | [51] |
| scope=row | 1972 | NFC# | East | 1st | 11 | 3 | 0 | Won Divisional Playoffs (Packers) 16–3 Won NFC Championship (Cowboys) 26–3 Lost Super Bowl VII (vs. Dolphins) 14–7 | Larry Brown (&)[52] [53] | [54] | |
| scope=row | 1973 | NFC | East | 2nd^ | 10 | 4 | 0 | Lost Divisional Playoffs (at Vikings) 27–20 | — | [55] | |
| scope=row | 1974 | NFC | East | 2nd^ | 10 | 4 | 0 | Lost Divisional Playoffs (at Rams) 19–10 | — | [56] | |
| scope=row | 1975 | NFC | East | 3rd | 8 | 6 | 0 | — | Mike Thomas [57] | [58] | |
| scope=row | 1976 | NFC | East | 2nd^ | 10 | 4 | 0 | Lost Divisional Playoffs (at Vikings) 35–20 | — | [59] | |
| scope=row | 1977 | NFC | East | 2nd | 9 | 5 | 0 | — | — | [60] | |
| scope=row | 1978 | NFC | East | 3rd | 8 | 8 | 0 | — | Jack Pardee | John Riggins [61] | [62] |
| scope=row | 1979 | NFC | East | 3rd | 10 | 6 | 0 | — | Jack Pardee [63] | [64] | |
| scope=row | 1980 | NFC | East | 3rd | 6 | 10 | 0 | — | — | [65] | |
| scope=row | 1981 | NFC | East | 4th | 8 | 8 | 0 | — | Joe Gibbs | Ken Houston (Byron "Whizzer" White Award)[66] | [67] |
| scope=row | 1982 | NFC# | 1st# | 8 | 1 | 0 | Won First Round Playoffs (Lions) 31–7 Won Second Round Playoffs (Vikings) 21–7 Won NFC Championship (Cowboys) 31–17 Won Super Bowl XVII (3) (vs. Dolphins) 27–17 | Joe Gibbs Mark Moseley John Riggins [68] Joe Theismann [69] Bobby Beathard [70] | [71] | ||
| scope=row | 1983 | NFC# | East | 1st | 14 | 2 | 0 | Won Divisional Playoffs (Rams) 51–7 Won NFC Championship (49ers) 24–21 Lost Super Bowl XVIII (vs. Raiders) 38–9 | Joe Gibbs Joe Theismann (&) Bobby Beathard | [72] | |
| scope=row | 1984 | NFC | East | 1st | 11 | 5 | 0 | Lost Divisional Playoffs (Bears) 23–19 | — | [73] | |
| scope=row | 1985 | NFC | East | 3rd | 10 | 6 | 0 | — | — | [74] | |
| scope=row | 1986 | NFC | East | 2nd^ | 12 | 4 | 0 | Won Wild Card Playoffs (Rams) 19–7 Won Divisional Playoffs (at Bears) 27–13 Lost NFC Championship (at Giants) 17–0 | — | [75] | |
| scope=row | 1987 | NFC# | East | 1st | 11 | 4 | 0 | Won Divisional Playoffs (at Bears) 21–17 Won NFC Championship (Vikings) 17–10 Won Super Bowl XXII (4) (vs. Broncos) 42–10 | Doug Williams | [76] | |
| scope=row | 1988 | NFC | East | 3rd | 7 | 9 | 0 | — | — | [77] | |
| scope=row | 1989 | NFC | East | 3rd | 10 | 6 | 0 | — | — | [78] | |
| scope=row | 1990 | NFC | East | 3rd^ | 10 | 6 | 0 | Won Wild Card Playoffs (at Eagles) 20–6 Lost Divisional Playoffs (at 49ers) 28–10 | — | [79] | |
| scope=row | 1991 | NFC# | East | 1st | 14 | 2 | 0 | Won Divisional Playoffs (Falcons) 24–7 Won NFC Championship (Lions) 41–10 Won Super Bowl XXVI (5) (vs. Bills) 37–24 | Joe Gibbs Mark Rypien (&) [80] | [81] | |
| scope=row | 1992 | NFC | East | 3rd^< | --END OF MAIN TABLE-->See alsoReferences
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