The last time the franchise now known as the Washington Commanders played for the NFC Championship was January 12, 1992. Five current players — Cornelius Lucas, Tress Way, Zach Ertz, Bobby Wagner, and Nick Bellore — were alive.
Bellore was the oldest. He was two years old.
Washington was on a mission that season. They were a veteran group that had appeared in three Super Bowls in the 1980s, claiming two Vince Lombardi trophies along the way. In 1991, they steamrolled almost every team they played.
They finished the year at 14-2, coming up just five points shy of a perfect season. They had a margin of victory of almost 17 points per game. The second-best team in the league that year, the San Francisco 49ers, had a margin under 10. Washington was dominant on offense, defense, and special teams.
In that NFC Championship game, they hosted the 12-4 Detroit Lions. vegas made Washington a 14-point favorite. They missed by 17 points.
Washington stormed to a 41-10 victory. Two weeks later, they dismantled the Buffalo Bills to win Super Bowl XXVI.
If you’re looking for parallels between that 1991 team and this year’s Commanders, you won't find many. Washington did have a dynamic young linebacker acquired through free agency, kind of like Frankie Luvu this season. That was Wilbur Marshall.
If Luvu can match Marshall’s performance in the NFC Championship game, it bodes very well for the Commanders. He had three sacks in the 1992 contest.
And if the rest of the Commanders' defense can handle running back Saquon Barkley the way their predecessors dealt with Barry Sanders, that’s another promising sign.
Sanders, who would have easily won the rushing title had he not missed the Lions’ opener (against Washington), was held to a measly 44 yards. He came in averaging over 100 yards per game for the season.
That Joe Gibbs-led team had a dominant defense, a punishing ground game, and one of the best offensive lines in the history of the NFL. You cannot say the same for this year’s Commanders. But maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
The team that won the title in 1992 was one of the best squads ever assembled. But it became clear over the next few seasons that it was something of a swansong for Washington football.
They would squeak into the playoffs the following year, then fall off the proverbial table. A long period of mediocrity would follow — a period that was made worse by the change in ownership that eventually turned a once-proud franchise into a disgrace.
In hindsight, though the scandals could not have been predicted, there were plenty of warning signs about the impending decline. So if you are wondering whether this most recent incarnation is at the beginning of a new chapter of success, here are three obvious differences.
Differences between this year's Commanders and the last NFC Championship team
This year's squad has the right blend of youth and experience
The starting defenses on both teams are almost the same average age — 27.5 years old. That is very normal for any organization.
This year’s starting offense also averages 27. But the offense in 1992 was old. The average starting age was 30. Only one offensive starter — guard Mark Schlereth — was under the age of 28. Five starters — two offensive linemen and three wide receiver/tight ends — were past 30.
This year’s offense has just one starter past 30 — Zach Ertz. Andrew Wylie turned 30 this past summer. Almost a complete reversal of the 1992 squad, this year’s offense has five starters 25 or younger.
Similarly, the defense has just one starter over 30 — linebacker Bobby Wagner. They are especially young in the secondary, where the average age of the five primary starters is just 25. This year’s Commanders have room to grow.
Commanders are building for the future
The aging starters in 1992 would not have been an issue had the club been restocking with quality drafts. However, Pro Football Hall of Fame general manager Bobby Beathard stepped away in 1988.
His successor, Charlie Casserly, was a competent, smart football man. But he didn’t have Beathard’s magic.
Casserly’s drafts were far less productive. Between 1987 and 1991, Washington added two bona fide stars through the draft — Mark Schlereth in 1989 and Brian Mitchell in 1990. There were several other decent players in those years, but none of them left a serious mark in Washington.
The best player drafted in 1991 — Keenan McCardell — never even played for Washington (until his final season, 17 years later). He caught more than 850 passes for other franchises.
Adam Peters has already proven his ability to find talent for the current squad. Three of his picks are starting and playing well. Four others are logging significant snaps as rotational players. The only two who have not contributed this season were largely slowed by injuries.
It remains to be seen whether Peters’ first draft will be as historic as Beathard’s in 1981. That year, he drafted one future Pro Football Hall of Famer, two other Pro Bowlers, and four players who made significant contributions to the dynasty that developed under Gibbs in the 1980s.
Right now, Peters’ 2024 draft looks a lot closer to that 1981 masterpiece than any of the drafts leading up to 1991/2.
This year's Commanders have a franchise quarterback
Of course, one of those Peters’ successful draft picks plays the most important position on the field. Jayden Daniels is 24 years old, at the very beginning of what could be an astonishing career. With him in place, there is no telling how long the Commanders can stay among the league’s best.
Mark Rypien had a phenomenal season. He made the Pro Bowl and was a second-team All-Pro. But he was also 29 years old. He had been a quality player in the years leading up to 1991 but had never achieved a passer rating higher than 90 before that magical campaign.
Rypien was a big, strong-armed quarterback who could throw a great deep ball but could not move very well. He benefitted from having a sensational offensive line that hardly ever let him get touched, and from having three excellent receivers catching his throws.
Though fans hoped this success would continue, that 1991 season turned out to be something of an outlier. Rypien never approached those numbers again and would only remain a starting signal-caller for parts of two more seasons.
It is possible that Daniels’ 2024 season could one day be seen as an aberration as well. But I wouldn’t bet on it.
Daniels has unlimited upside. Coupled with a quality young roster and a likely pipeline of more talent through upcoming drafts, this NFC Championship appearance looks a lot more like the beginning of a great run than the beginning of the end, which is what the last title contest three decades ago turned out to be.