The debates around whether Jayden Daniels should play again this season were put to rest in Week 14 against the Minnesota Vikings. And in all honesty, the Washington Commanders were never going to sit down their franchise player.
It's been another grueling road back for Daniels after he suffered a dislocated elbow against the Seattle Seahawks. The Commanders have taken every possible precaution during his recovery. After another strong week of practice, which also included full participation for the first time on Thursday and Friday, that was enough for those in power to give him the green light.
This didn't sit well with everybody, but five games is a long time for anyone to be missing when they could play. Daniels is far too competitive for that. However, it's not hard to see why fans were carrying some trepidation into the clash.
The Vikings' defense is blitz-happy and among the league leaders in pressures. They can make things extremely uncomfortable with some early momentum, so all eyes were on Daniels to see if there would be any tweaks in the game plan to keep complications to a minimum.
As it turned out, the Commanders suffered another ugly loss — their eighth in succession. And to make matters worse, Daniels didn't even make it through the entire game.
With this in mind, here are five significant observations from Daniels' performance at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Major observations from Jayden Daniels' performance against the Vikings
Jayden Daniels was out of sync
Things didn't click early for Jayden Daniels. The Commanders had no answer for Brian Flores' blitz packages, and he completely overwhelmed Kliff Kingsbury to the point where almost no legitimate momentum could be generated.
Daniels wasn't clicking. He had no time. The timing was also off, and there was a lot more hesitancy. This is not the assured, confident figure that took the NFL by storm in 2024. There is tentativeness where once there was nothing but supreme confidence. And the Vikings could smell blood right out of the gate.
Things got much worse for Daniels as the game wore on, but his inability to find his groove early in the contest had a ripple effect with much bigger ramifications. Nobody should have been expecting miracles after he missed so much time this season, but considering the opposition wasn't exactly in great form either, fans were right to expect just a little bit more.
That set the tone for the entire contest. And now, there is nowhere for the Commanders to hide after a demoralizing afternoon at the office.