The Washington Commanders, as their long-awaited bye week came just when fans (and players) needed it most.
With a massively disappointing record of 3-8, the Commanders are all but eliminated from playoff contention. Instead, they'll be monitoring the tentative order for the 2026 NFL Draft for the rest of their campaign.
In that regard, the Commanders' result on their bye followed the same theme the team has been unable to shake for two months. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.
Commanders stay seventh in 2026 NFL Draft order after Week 12
It's generally a pretty safe rule of thumb that if you're rooting for bad teams to win, it rarely works out. Such was the case for any Commanders fans hoping the New York Giants, New York Jets, New Orleans Saints, and Las Vegas Raiders could pull off rare victories.
Draft Position | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|
No. 1 | Tennessee Titans | 1-10 |
No. 2 | New York Giants | 2-10 |
No. 3 | New Orleans Saints | 2-9 |
No. 4 | New York Jets | 2-9 |
No. 5 | Las Vegas Raiders | 2-9 |
No. 6 | Cleveland Browns | 3-8 |
No. 7 | Washington Commanders | 3-8 |
No. 8 | Cincinnati Bengals | 3-8 |
No. 9 | Arizona Cardinals | 3-8 |
No. 10 | Miami Dolphins | 4-7 |
Those are the four teams, along with the Cleveland Browns, directly ahead of Washington in the draft order.
The Browns beat the Raiders, but that does the Commanders no favors, since Cleveland's strength of schedule still gives them the better draft position. A Las Vegas win would have moved Dan Quinn's unit up a spot.
As for the other three, there was false hope galore. The Jets surprisingly led the Baltimore Ravens at halftime on the road, but fell 23-10. The Saints hung around with the Atlanta Falcons, who were led by former Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins, but lost 24-10.
The biggest blunder of all was yet another blown fourth-quarter lead by the New York Giants. They looked on the verge of pulling off a road upset against the Detroit Lions, leading 27-17 late before Dan Campbell's unit scored 17 unanswered and survived in overtime.
The Giants would have moved to 3-9 with a win, still a worse record than Washington's, but only because they've yet to have their bye week. Whoever earns the better pick between the two of them could very well end up being decided by the outcome of their Week 15 contest.
No one should ever root for their team to lose games. Putting forth a competitive effort is always better than not doing so, even in a lost season. But Commanders fans should absolutely be hoping the other basement-dwellers back into a few triumphs to help them out.
Unfortunately, the league wasn't of much assistance in that regard.