It’s 5 o’clock somewhere…
The 5 O’Clock Club
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Each and every game is important in the NFL, but there are certain ones that probably carry more weight than others for the Washington Commanders. With one of the toughest schedules in the league — ranked 8th most difficult by Sharp Football Analysis; 9th by Sports Illustrated — the Commanders will face many challenging opponents this year. Assuming that the team doesn’t repeat the 2025 meltdown, any given game could be the difference between making the playoffs or not.
With that in mind, I decided to identify what I see as the four most intriguing games on Washington’s schedule this year, excluding NFC East division rivals. Each one of these teams could be playoff contenders, and as such, should be tough matchups for the Commanders with playoff hopes hanging in the balance. That makes each game important; to make the intriguing list, however, I looked for something a little “extra” in the particular game or matchup.
Week 3 vs Seattle Seahawks
The obvious factor here is that the Seahawks are the reigning Super Bowl champs, and they return their roster and coaching staff largely intact, but not entirely so. The Super Bowl MVP, RB Kenneth Walker, left in free agency, as did CB Riq Woolen (to Philadelphia), among at least a couple of others. The Seahawks used their first-round pick on a RB to replace Walker, selecting Notre Dame’s Jadarian Price. Last season’s offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak was hired as head coach of the Raiders and is replaced by former 49ers coach Brian Fleury.
Despite these changes, head coach Mike Macdonald remains in place. The Commanders front office reportedly tried unsuccessfully to convince Macdonald to take the head coaching job in Washington rather than Seattle — meaning that he may have been the top choice of the front office, and it seems as if he was at least ahead of Dan Quinn on the head coach shortlist in 2024.
With Washington’s first two games of the season being played on the road against division opponents, this Week 3 game is the first home game of the season, and it comes against the defending champs, making it a crucial early test of Washington’s new offensive and defensive schemes, and a chance for Dan Quinn to prove that he’s more than just ‘the guy who was still available back in ‘24’.
Week 4 vs Indianapolis Colts in London
The Colts, being in the AFC, are not as critical to playoff tie-breakers as are NFC opponents, but there are a few factors at play that make this an intriguing game. First is the fact that the Commanders have never won an international regular season game; they are 0-1-1, having played into overtime in both of their international matches.
Missed field goals and overtime
Against the Bengals in 2016, Dustin Hopkins missed a 34-yard, game-winning field goal attempt in overtime — the Hopkins kick remembered most by Redskins fans. Jay Gruden’s team didn’t lose the game, though. Defensive lineman Chris Baker forced an Andy Dalton fumble to kill the Cincinnati drive with a minute on the clock, and when Kirk Cousins couldn’t move the Redskins into scoring range on 4 pass attempts, the game ended in a 27-27 tie.
Last year, playing the Dolphins in Madrid, Matt Gay missed a 56-yard field goal attempt with 15 seconds left in the 4th quarter to send a low-scoring game into overtime, tied 13-13. Washington got the ball first in OT, but Marcus Mariota threw an interception on the first play, allowing Miami to win on an easy 29-yard field goal on 1st down with over 7 minutes left in OT.
That has been Dan Quinn’s only regular season international game to date. Against the Colts, he will be looking to get his personal record to .500 as well as that of his team.
Danny Dimes
The other intriguing factor in this game is playing against Colts quarterback Daniel Jones. As the QB of the New York Giants, Jones notoriously had many of the best games of his career against the burgundy & gold. Daniel Jones has a 5–3–1 all-time career record against Washington, which he accumulated during his six seasons with the Giants. Historically, Washington has been one of Jones’ least successful opponents, highlighted by the QB’s dominant 100.3 career passer rating against them, along with 14 touchdowns and only 3 interceptions.
Things have been trending Washington’s way over time, however. The Redskins were 0-2 against Jones in 2019; the Washington Football Team was 1-2, losing both games in 2020, but winning the sole matchup against Jones in 2021. The Commanders currently have a 2-1-1 record against Daniel Jones, including a win in 2024 in the final game against him before he left the NFC East.
Of course, Jones is returning from an Achilles tear that happened last season. This month, roughly 6 months post-surgery, Jones is reported to be ahead of the traditional timeline for an Achilles recovery, leading the starting offense in non-contact 7-on-7 drills during OTAs. He confidently stated he “absolutely” expects to be fully cleared as the starting quarterback for the Colts’ September 13 regular season opener against the Baltimore Ravens, but it is common for NFL players to be bullish on their recovery timelines during the offseason.
Week 6 at San Francisco 49ers
In another NFC matchup, the Commanders are traveling west — their second-longest ‘road’ trip of the season behind London. The travel schedule is one factor that makes this game intriguing. Washington is home in Week 5, but they will travel over 3,600 miles in Week 4 and another 2,800 miles in Week 6 — in opposite directions, covering 8 time zones. They play at 9:30 a.m. ET in Week 4 and 8:15 p.m. ET in Week 6. The logistical challenges and circadian rhythm challenges for the team are immense.
The start time of the Niners game is due to it being played on Monday Night Football. Per Stat Muse, Washington is 33-46 all-time on Monday Night Football since its inception in 1970. While the team appeared to be righting the ship with MNF wins against the Eagles in 2022 and the Bengals in 2024, Dan Quinn’s squad got beaten twice on MNF last season, with the first loss to the Bears in Week 6 kicking off a devastating 8-game losing streak that included the Monday night beatdown (28-7) in Kansas City. The Commanders are again appearing twice on MNF in 2026, and will need to play well against San Francisco to help improve the historical win-loss record on MNF, as well as to demonstrate that the team can beat quality playoff-caliber opponents.
The other factor in my decision to include the Niners in the list of intriguing games has to do with Kyle Shanahan’s personal history — and the current standoff regarding Brandon Aiyuk, which will be resolved one way or another by the time the regular season begins.
Kyle Shanahan’s deep-seated animosity toward Washington dates back to his chaotic tenure as the Redskins offensive coordinator under his father, Mike Shanahan — a stint that ended in a bitter, highly publicized firing. That old grudge has collided with a modern-day war of attrition over 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, and it has included bad blood and the careers of players like Kirk Cousins and Trent Williams along the way.
After his relationship with the 49ers was completely fractured, Aiyuk sat out the entire 2025 season due to a serious knee injury and spent the 2026 offseason explicitly flirting with the Commanders to reunite with his close friend, quarterback Jayden Daniels.
Knowing Washington is Aiyuk’s desired landing spot, Shanahan has, to date, dug in his heels, publicly declaring the 49ers are in “no rush” to trade him—effectively holding the receiver hostage just to avoid doing the Commanders any favors. This calls to mind reports that, when the Niners wanted to trade for Kirk Cousins in 2017, Washington’s front office reportedly refused to negotiate — allegedly because of bad blood left over from Shanahan’s tenure in DC.
Consequently, this primetime matchup is no longer just a standard regular season game; it can be sold to fans – despite the facts that Washington has a completely new ownership and front office, and that GM Adam Peters appears to be on good terms with his former employers in SF — as a highly personal revenge match where Shanahan appears to hope to punish his former employer on national television, while Washington looks to hand their former offensive coordinator a stinging defeat. Who know? Some of that may even be true.
Week 11 vs Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football
Personally, this game might get my vote for “Most Intriguing Game of the Year” for the Commanders, and for only one reason: because it feels like “Part 2” of the Monday Night Football shootout that thrust Jayden Daniels into the national limelight in Week 3 of 2024, when Washington outscored Cincinnati 38-33 in a game that featured nine touchdowns and no punts. The Commanders scored on every single possession in that game that didn’t end up with Daniels taking a knee to end the half, and the Bengals were a missed 48-yard field goal away from matching that feat.
Add in the same ingredient that made the 2024 game so fascinating — Joe Burrow and Jayden Daniels as former LSU teammates, with Jayden succeeding Joe as the Tigers’ starting QB with both winning the Heisman trophy — and you get added drama.
In Week 11 of the upcoming season, absent an absolute meltdown by one or both teams, this game should see the Commanders and Bengals both chasing playoff spots. The Bengals’ move to trade for Dexter Lawrence this offseason shows that they expect to be in playoff contention in the AFC. With Washington’s final 7 games looking decidedly easier than the team’s first 8 games, this primetime matchup at home against the Bengals could be a key pivot point in the season for a Washington team that desperately needs to put together a playoff season to change the narrative that threatens to be written if this season isn’t markedly different than 2025. Beating Joe Burrow and the Bengals (again) on Monday Night Football would be another big statement about Dan Quinn, Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders, and could mark the start of a strong finish to the the ‘26 season leading to a playoff spot.
Now, it’s your turn
[You can see the full 2026 schedule in the tweet below. Feel free to tell us in the comments which game — whether it’s one of the four I talked about or a different one — you find most intriguing on the Commanders’ upcoming regular season schedule, and why]