The Washington Commanders enter the 2026 season hoping for a significant bounce-back from last year's nightmare 5-12 campaign. General manager Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn have done almost everything right this spring, but the schedule makers did the organization no favors.
Washington brought in two promising new coordinators and a host of roster additions who will make the squad younger, faster, and hungrier. Everything looks great on paper until you realize there are 31 other NFL teams who will also be trying to win football games.
Whether the Commanders truly did enough to become better than teams like the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles remains to be seen. And in September, they'll have to find out the hard way.
Commanders need to emerge from a testing few weeks with something to show for it
The Commanders' 2026 season is going to be all about survival. In Washington's first six games, the team will face the Eagles and Cowboys on the road, the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, the Indianapolis Colts in London, and the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football.
It's a gauntlet that could effectively crush Washington's playoff dreams before Halloween. It could also provide high hopes for the rest of the year if they tread water, as NBC Sports insider JP Finlay points out via 106.7 The Fan.
The Commanders have a tough schedule to begin the season but can take advantage of an easy back-end if they stay afloat. #Commanders #NFL #Football pic.twitter.com/hkSXcgI92x
— 106.7 The Fan (@1067theFan) May 18, 2026
In the second half of the year, the Commanders have a stretch in which they face the Arizona Cardinals, Tennessee Titans, Houston Texans, and Atlanta Falcons in four consecutive games. Prior to that, they have the New York Giants and Cincinnati Bengals. Those are all winnable contests, and a prime opportunity for Washington to make a late-season surge.
However, they need to get there with progress already built.
If Washington begins the season at 2-6 or 1-7 in its first eight games, the mountain will be too steep to climb. Chemistry will be all out of sorts, and Quinn might not even be around to see the end of the year.
This makes it imperative for the Commanders to find a way to steal a few early on. The Colts game in London and the Week 5 tilt against the Giants at home are must-wins. Washington will also need to find a way to grab at least one of the first three, and a victory in Santa Clara in Week 6 would be ideal.
The Commanders have a trial by fire awaiting them, and there's nowhere to run. We'll see if they're up to the task.
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