Commanders' locker room energy has shifted (and it's raising eyebrows)

The Washington Commanders lost to the Denver Broncos in Week 13, and yet after the way the past two months have gone, it felt like a win.

Washington took a 10-2 team into overtime and lost on the final play, an unsuccessful two-point conversion. Star wide receiver Terry McLaurin returned and balled out with his best performance of the campaign. One brutal Marcus Mariota interception aside, the sloppy mistakes that have plagued the Commanders this season were not an issue.

It might be too late to save Washington's playoff hopes, but the energy is shifting. It's the best news the Commanders could ask for.

'Hard Knocks' proves Dan Quinn hasn't lost the Commanders locker room

While the Commanders are in the midst of a seven-game losing streak, fans can take a deeper look behind the scenes with the Hard Knocks seriesfeaturing the NFC East. The first episode included a snapshot of Quinn's message to his troops following the Sunday Night Football loss.

It's the type of statement that should reinforce trust among everyone who still believes in Washington's leader of men and make all the emotional keyboard warriors calling for his job look foolish.

Quinn doesn't mess around. He knows the Commanders' standard this year isn't acceptable, and it's why he's taken the onus upon himself to fix it. He demoted Joe Whitt Jr. from his defensive coordinator duties and installed himself as the play-caller, a move that has paid dividends in Washington's last two games. Now, the team is also getting healthier.

The light is at the end of the tunnel. It's clear in both Quinn's words and his players' body language.

This is not a team that looks tuned out and ready to book their hotel reservations in Cancún. They're going to fight until the bitter end, and then they're going to come back next year and prove this season was as big a fluke in a negative way as 2024 was positively.

It's been a character-building year for the Commanders. Last season, everything went right. Quinn got to take over a group sparked by new blood and feast on the good vibes. Now, he's had to take some uncomfortable looks in the mirror and accept the responsibility he owes in righting the ship.

It's been a process, but he's getting there.

The actual test of a locker room is how it responds to adversity. Sometimes, it's an extended run of adversity, over the course of a full season, when circumstances fall the way they have for the Commanders this year.

But when there's a will, there's a way.