The Washington Commanders are a professional American football franchise based in the Washington metropolitan area. They are members of the East division in the National Football Conference (NFC) of the National Football League (NFL). The Commanders were founded in 1932 as the Boston Braves, named after the local baseball franchise. [1] The franchise changed its name the following year to the Redskins and moved to Washington, D.C. in 1937. [1] In 2020, the team retired the Redskins name after longstanding controversies surrounding it and briefly played as the Washington Football Team before becoming the Commanders in 2022. [1]
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Over their 92 seasons in the NFL, the Commanders have accumulated a record of 629 wins, 643 losses, and 29 ties, which is the thirteenth-worst all-time regular season record among active franchises in terms of win–loss percentage. [2] They have also made the playoffs twenty-five times and have the ninth-best playoff record in terms of win-loss percentage with 23 wins and 20 losses. [2] The franchise has won five NFC championships and 15 NFL divisional titles. [2]
The franchise has won three Super Bowl championships (XVII, XXII, and XXVI). [3] They also played in and lost Super Bowl VII and Super Bowl XVIII. [3] Before the AFL and NFL merged in 1970, [4] Washington won two NFL Championships (1937 and 1942). They also played in and lost the 1936, 1940, 1943, and 1945 Championship games. Only five teams have appeared in more Super Bowls than Washington: the New England Patriots (11), Dallas Cowboys (eight), Pittsburgh Steelers (eight), Denver Broncos (eight), and San Francisco 49ers (seven); Washington's five appearances are tied with the Green Bay Packers, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Rams, Miami Dolphins, and New York Giants. [5]
All of the franchise's championships were attained during two 10-year spans. The first period of success was from 1936 to 1945, when they went to the NFL Championship six times, winning two of them. The second period of success was from 1982 and 1991, when they appeared in the postseason seven times, captured four Conference titles, and won three Super Bowls. This period included the 1983 and 1991 seasons, when the team won 14 games, the most the team have won in a single season. [6]
Washington has also experienced periods of extended failure in its history. The most notable period of continued failure was from 1946 to 1970, when they posted only four winning seasons and did not have a single postseason appearance. [6] During this period, they went without a single winning season between 1956 to 1968 and posted their worst regular-season record in franchise history, going 1–12–1 in 1961. [6] Washington is currently experiencing its second period of lack of success, which began in 1993 and continued throughout the 2000s and 2010s with only two playoff wins under the ownership of Daniel Snyder. [6]
