The 1996 season was the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

' 65th in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

, and their 61st since the franchise moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

It was their last season playing at

RFK Stadium Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, commonly known as RFK Stadium and originally known as District of Columbia Stadium, is a defunct multi-purpose stadium in Washington, D.C. It is located about due east of the U.S. Capitol building, near the w ...

, where they had played since

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

. They began the season aiming to improve on their 6–10 record from the year before, but after winning seven of their first eight games, they managed just two victories in the second half of the season and finished with a 9–7 record. By virtue of their inferior intra-conference record (6–6) compared to the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

(8–4), the Redskins became the first team in NFL history to start the season 7–1 and not make the playoffs (this was later matched by the

2012 Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears season was the franchise's 93rd season in the National Football League, as well as the ninth and final under head coach Lovie Smith. The team played at Soldier Field for the tenth season since its reconstruction in 2001. The Be ...

). Although the Redskins' offense was eighth in the league in scoring, their defense surrendered 2,275 rushing yards, the most in the NFL that year. Statistics site ''

Football Outsiders Football Outsiders (FO) is a website started in July 2003 which focuses on advanced statistical analysis of the NFL. The site is run by a staff of regular writers, who produce a series of weekly columns using both the site's in-house statistics ...

'' calculated that the 1996 Redskins had, play-for-play, the worst run defense they had ever tracked.Football Outsiders – DVOA 7.0: Worst Teams Ever
1991–2011. At the end of the season, in a 37-10 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, past and present Redskins greats were honored at halftime and were introduced and taken around in golf carts in a final "victory lap" around the stadium to acknowledge the fans one last time.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Personnel

Staff

Roster

Regular season

Schedule

Standings

Awards and records

Darrell Green Darrell Ray Green (born February 15, 1960) is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Washington Redskins from 1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning o ...

Walter Payton Man of the Year Award The Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award is presented annually by the National Football League (NFL) honoring a player's commitment to philanthropy and community impact, as well as his excellence on the field. Prior to 1999, it was called s ...

References

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

Washington Redskins seasons

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

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