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A look back in Commanders history: The 2013 season

By Samuel Schulman

LANDOVER, MD - DECEMBER 22: London Fletcher #59 of the Washington Redskins walks off the field after the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Redskins 24-23 during an NFL game at FedExField on December 22, 2013 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
LANDOVER, MD - DECEMBER 22: London Fletcher #59 of the Washington Redskins walks off the field after the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Redskins 24-23 during an NFL game at FedExField on December 22, 2013 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Drew Hallowell/Philadelphia Eagles/Getty Images)
(Photo by Drew Hallowell/Philadelphia Eagles/Getty Images) /

By week 3 it was clear that the Commanders had lost their magic that they had captured in 2012, and they found themselves with a record of 0-3.  The Commanders generally start slow but even for them 0-3 is one of the worst starts in the last 15 seasons.

After an 0-3 start to the season the Commanders managed to crawl to 3-5 with a winning record in their next 5 games. They would not win another game the rest of the season. They lost eight straight, making it the worst losing streak the team endured over the last 15 years, and trust me when I tell you there were many of them.

The positives from the season were few and far between. One bright spot was the addition of Jordan Reed who brought a threat from the TE spot the Commanders had been missing since the departure of Chris Cooley.

One other bright spot that comes with a MASSIVE asterisk is the ridiculous talent on the Commander’s 2013 coaching staff.

While Mike Shanahan was leading his final NFL team of his decorated NFL coaching career to an abysmal 3-13 record, his staff was loaded with future coaching talent. Washington’s 2013 offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan is now the well respected offensive genius coaching the 49ers. The team’s tight end coach was Sean McVay, who is now coaching Rams teams to the super bowl. The Commanders’ quarterback’s coach was Matt LaFleur who has gotten off to one of the best starts any head coach NFL history with the Packers. Lastly, the wide receiver’s coach Mike McDaniel was just hired as the Dolphins head coach. That is four talented NFL coaches all on Washington’s offensive coaching staff! The only issue is the team lost all of them throughout the years.

The worst of the worst came with the fact that the Commanders did not have the rights to their own draft pick in 2014,( due to the Robert Griffin III trade) so their season of losing was all for naught. The Rams would draft a bust, but it did not change the fact that the Commanders missed out on a chance at a player like Khalil Mack who would get drafted in the top 5 that year. This is what made 2013 such a hard pill to swallow.

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