The 2023 season was the

Washington Commanders 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) E ...

' 92nd season 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 ...

(NFL) and their fourth and final under

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Ron Rivera Ronald Eugene Rivera (born January 7, 1962), nicknamed "Riverboat Ron", is an American football head coach for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He attended the University of California, Berkeley in the early 198 ...

. It was the first season under owner Josh Harris, who headed a group in the offseason that bought the franchise from

Daniel Snyder Daniel Marc Snyder (born November 23, 1964) is an American businessman and owner of the Washington Commanders, an American football team belonging to the National Football League (NFL). He bought the team, then known as the Washington Redskins, ...

for $6.05 billion. The team replaced offensive coordinator Scott Turner, who joined the team in 2020, with former

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The ...

offensive coordinator

Eric Bieniemy Eric M. Bieniemy Jr. (born August 15, 1969) is an American football coach and former running back who is the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs. He played college football for the Colorado Buffaloes and was recognized as a consens ...

, who was also named assistant head coach. Defensive coordinator

Jack Del Rio Jack Louis Del Rio Jr. (born April 4, 1963) is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football as a linebacker at the University of South ...

and defensive backs coach

Brent Vieselmeyer Brent Vieselmeyer (born September 29, 1975) is an American football defensive backs coach for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). Vieselmeyer played college football for the University of Redlands and Concordia Univer ...

were fired following a 10–45 loss to the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

. The team failed to improve or match their 8–8–1 record after a Week 13 loss to the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

, resulting in their seventh straight non-winning season, and were eliminated from playoff contention for the third straight year following a Week 15 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Despite starting off with a 2–0 record for the first time since 2011, the team imploded thereafter, allowing the most points scored by any team that year (518 points allowed in total), and having the worst point differential in the league (a −189 point differential), in conjunction with having the 9th worst ranked offense of the year. These problems resulted in the team going 2–13 the rest of the way, which included them being swept by the division for the first time since

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, and a devastating eight-game losing streak to close off the year. After the season's conclusion, on January 8, Commanders managing partner Josh Harris officially announced that the organization had parted ways with head coach Ron Rivera. With the Detroit Lions defeating the Los Angeles Rams in the Wild Card round of the playoffs, the Commanders now hold the longest active playoff win drought in the NFC and third-longest in the NFL (behind the

and

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West div ...

), not having won such a game since 2005. With the Lions winning their NFC Divisional round game against the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

the following week, Washington alone now holds the longest conference championship appearance drought in the NFC; both Detroit and Washington had last appeared in the

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NFC Championship Game.

Ownership change

, whose ownership had been mired in controversy amid a lack of on-field success since buying the franchise in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, sold the team to a group headed by Josh Harris, co-founder of Apollo Global Management and owner of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and NHL's New Jersey Devils, for $6.05 billion. The group has 20 limited partners worth a combined $100 billion, the most in the NFL, which includes Danaher and

Glenstone Glenstone is a private contemporary art museum in Potomac, Maryland, from downtown Washington, D.C. The museum's exhibitions are drawn from a collection of about 1,300 works from post-World War II artists around the world. It is the largest priv ...

founder

Mitchell Rales Mitchell Rales (born 1956) is an American billionaire businessman, and a collector of modern and contemporary art. He co-founded Danaher Corporation in 1983 and is the chairman of its executive committee. Rales is one of the Washington, D.C. re ...

, Hall of Fame basketball player Magic Johnson, 76ers and Devils co-owner

David Blitzer David Scott Blitzer (born September 7, 1969) is an American private equity investor and sports team owner. A native of New Jersey, he graduated from the Wharton School and joined Blackstone Inc in 1991, where he serves as head of their Tactic ...

, D.C. entrepreneur

Mark Ein Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fin ...

Maverick Capital Maverick Capital is an American hedge fund firm. It was founded by Lee Ainslie in 1993, who was a " Tiger Cub" under Julian Robertson at Tiger Management, helped raise $38 million in capital by the family of Texas entrepreneur Sam Wyly Samue ...

founder

Lee Ainslie Lee S. Ainslie III is the head of hedge fund Maverick Capital. He is a value investor that is particularly known for his investments in the technology sector. Early life and education Ainslie's father was headmaster of Episcopal High School, a p ...

, former

Magic Johnson Enterprises Magic Johnson Enterprises is an American investment company owned by retired NBA Hall of Fame legend Magic Johnson. In 1995, after some criticism that he only invested with other people's money, Johnson took an equity stake along with what was t ...

president Eric Holoman,

Blue Owl Capital Blue Owl Capital (also known as Blue Owl) is an American alternative investment asset management firm. It is currently listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol: "OWL". The firm is headquartered in New York City with addit ...

founders Marc Lipschultz and Doug Ostrover, the

Santo Domingo family The Santo Domingo family is a Colombian family whose collective fortune makes them among the richest families in the Americas. They have also been known to dominate the beer market. Santo Domingo family fortune The Santo Domingo family fortune : * ...

ProShares ProShares is an issuer of exchange-traded funds, including inverse exchange-traded funds, and similar products. History ProFunds Group was founded in 1997 with $100,000 by former Rydex employees Louis Mayberg and Michael Sapir. That year, it in ...

founder Michael Sapir, former

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

CEO Eric Schmidt, and

Cambridge Information Group Cambridge Information Group (CIG) is a privately held global investment firm focusing on information services, education and technology. It began as a firm providing services to academic publishers. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. As ...

CEO Andy Snyder. The deal was the highest price ever paid for a sports team and was unanimously approved by the NFL on July 20, 2023.

Draft

Draft trades

Staff

Roster

Schedule

Preseason

Regular season

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. Arizona Cardinals

Week 2: at Denver Broncos

Week 3: vs. Buffalo Bills

Week 4: at Philadelphia Eagles

Week 5: vs. Chicago Bears

Week 6: at Atlanta Falcons

Week 7: at New York Giants

Week 8: vs. Philadelphia Eagles

Week 9: at New England Patriots

Week 10: at Seattle Seahawks

Week 11: vs. New York Giants

The Commanders' offense committed six turnovers throughout the game. With a chance to win the game, Isaiah Simmons intercepted Sam Howell for a touchdown that put the game away. The Commanders fall to 4–7.

Week 12: at Dallas Cowboys

Thanksgiving Day games With the blowout loss, the Commanders were eliminated from NFC East contention. After the game, the team fired defensive coordinator

and defensive backs coach

Week 13: vs. Miami Dolphins

Week 15: at Los Angeles Rams

Despite the Commanders reaching the one yard line with just under five minutes left, just under two minutes remained when they finally scored.Five takeaways from Washington's Week 15 loss to the Rams
WashingtonCommanders.com, December 18, 2023

Week 16: at New York Jets

Week 17: vs. San Francisco 49ers

Week 18: vs. Dallas Cowboys

Standings

Division

Conference

References

External links

* {{2023 NFL season by team

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 o ...

Washington Commanders seasons