The Commanders were the biggest underdogs of the divisional round playoff games. It wasn’t hard to understand the respect being given to the 15-2 Detroit Lions, who had certainly played like champions for most of the season. It was, however, harder to fathom the disrespect for the 13-5 Commanders.
Of Washington’s five losses, one came in Week 1 when rookie QB Jayden Daniels had been playing his first-ever NFL game. That loss was avenged against the same team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in the same stadium just the week before in a game with much bigger stakes — the wildcard round of the NFC playoffs.