The San Francisco 49ers remain perfect, now the NFL’s only 6-0 team. The Washington Commanders? Just about anything but, but you can’t call them quitters.
The Niners, who led 23-3 late in the third quarter, survived the Commanders 23-17 on Monday, Oct. 19, their prime-time meeting initially resembling the mismatch it was expected to be prior to Washington’s valiant comeback.
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San Francisco QB Brock Purdy continued to perform at an MVP-caliber level, while the 49ers defense kept Washington at bay for most of the night – before Purdy’s Commanders counterpart, Jayden Daniels, served a fresh reminder of the dynamic dual threat he can be, especially when he’s mentally attuned to the game.
Yet it’s also possible that the biggest ramifications of this game are yet to come – and that could mean even more winners and losers are yet to emerge:
WINNERS
Jayden Daniels and Dan Quinn
Yes, the Commanders lost, dropping to 1-4-1 − though that hardly disqualifies them from contending in their sad-sack division. But they fought almost all the way out of a deep hole against what is currently the league’s best team and were just a few breaks from pulling off a huge upset, a potential game-winning touchdown nullified by a penalty in the final five minutes. Eight days after the infamous tie borne of botched clock management against the New York Giants, Daniels passed for 300 yards and two TDs despite being hamstrung by the personnel injuries around him, including the absence of his top receiver, running back and O-lineman. As for Quinn, his team’s effort might have cooled talk that the popular third-year head coach’s job security was in serious danger.
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 19: Jayden Daniels #5 of the Washington Commanders scrambles against Keion White #56 of the San Francisco 49ers during the second quarter of the game at Levi’s Stadium on October 19, 2026 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
Brock Purdy
The San Francisco QB had another efficient night, completing 21 of 29 passes for 264 yards and a TD, and continues to look like a frontrunner to win the league’s ultimate individual award.
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McCaffrey brothers
All-Pro San Francisco RB Christian McCaffrey and Washington WR Luke McCaffrey shared an NFL field as competing brothers for the first time − their parents, including former Denver Broncos WR Ed McCaffrey, watching them from a Levi’s Stadium suite. Christian McCaffrey overcame a fumble to score two of the Niners’ TDs. Luke McCaffrey averaged 24 yards on three kickoff returns but didn’t get a touch from scrimmage, targeted once unsuccessfully by Daniels.
“I can’t really put into words what it means to share the field with him,” Christian McCaffrey told ESPN after the game. “It was a huge honor.”
New England Patriots fans
Nothing like the sight of Quinn and Niners coach Kyle Shanahan, who were both part of the Atlanta Falcons staff − Quinn the HC and Shanahan the OC − on the same field to rekindle their fond memories of Tom Brady and Co. overcoming a 28-3 deficit to vanquish the Dirty Birds in Super Bowl 51.
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Commanders pants
The gold trousers are back, and in a two-stripe tone for the first time. As Washington continues to try and restore appropriate remnants of its glory years, it donned white jerseys with the gold pants for the first time since the rebrand to Commanders in 2022.
LOSERS
Jayden Daniels and Dan Quinn
Did “they” lose track of the game situation once again? In the first half, Daniels threw the ball away on fourth-and-2 inside the San Francisco red zone, apparently thinking a penalty was going in Washington’s favor as it tried to score a touchdown rather than settle for a field goal. The illegal shift did not in fact benefit the Commanders, and Washington turned the ball over on downs − Quinn also apparently thinking they still had the option to kick a field goal based on mass lip reading from the national TV audience. Quinn denied that was true after the game, though it was tough to make sense of a somewhat convoluted explanation.
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“I definitely knew it was fourth down,” he said. “I think what you’re referring to, I was probably saying, like, with the illegal shift, there’s not a penalty to go for a field goal. Like, it doesn’t go, like, it’s the turn on downs. Like, I think somebody asked me, ‘Can we kick a field goal?’ So, now we were going for it. We knew we had to go for some fourth downs to be bold in the game. I didn’t think it was gonna be a 17-14 game.
“I probably was just commenting that I remember, at least on the headset, somebody asked me, after an illegal shift, like it was turnover on downs, and Jayden saw the foul, too. He also came out and saw the penalty.”
OK, then.
Washington is headed into a bye week that would provide the optimal time to make a change if ownership opts for an off-ramp in the aftermath of more apparently situational awareness issues with Quinn and his quarterback.
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Veteran Pro Bowl wide receivers
Washington lost longtime team captain Terry McLaurin to an apparently serious knee injury in the first quarter. He went down in a heap, and his leg was placed in an air splint before he was carted off the field. San Francisco’s Mike Evans walked off the field before halftime with an Achilles injury, though the tendon − which is intact − has been nagging him in recent weeks.
NFC East
Washington’s loss made the division the first in league history to be completely winless in consecutive weeks when none of the member teams were on a bye. The Giants, currently 3-2-1, remain in first place.
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NFC West
It’s a touch early to say this race is over, but the Niners now have a three-game lead on the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks (3-3) in the division, and a four-game edge on the disappointing Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals, who are both 2-4. Perhaps worse, San Francisco has already beaten each of its NFC West foes once this season, providing a further headstart in the tiebreaker department.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Did Commanders lose battle to 49ers but prevail in bigger war? Winners and losers
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