Washington Commanders timeline on the way to the NFC championship game

The Washington Commanders are in the NFC championship game after going 12-5 in the regular season and winning two playoff games.

It’s the furthest the team has advanced in more than three decades, and it comes after going 4-13 in 2023. This turnaround is the result of a complete organizational overhaul that began with the firing of Ron Rivera and hiring of new general manager Adam Peters and coach Dan Quinn.

Signing veterans such as Bobby Wagner and Zach Ertz and drafting Jayden Daniels set the stage for one of the most surprising seasons in franchise history.

Here's how it all happened.

A 38-10 home loss to Dallas on coach Ron Rivera's 62nd birthday clinched the second pick in the draft and opened the door to get the organization's quarterback of the future.

Rivera was fired as expected after four seasons as head of football operations, a stint that included one playoff appearance when Washington won the NFC East with a 7-9 record in 2020.

Controlling owner Josh Harris, whose group bought the team from Dan Snyder and family in 2023 for a North American professional sports record $6.05 billion, said: "Clearly, we weren’t good enough this year. We didn’t get it done on the field, and so we’ve decided to go into a new direction.”

Longtime NBA executive Bob Myers and former Minnesota Vikings general manager Rick Spielman were contracted to assist Harris and co-owners Magic Johnson, Mitch Rales and David Blitzer in the GM and coach searches. Harris predicted a “thorough but rapid” process.

It did not take long for ownership to find its new head football executive, reaching an agreement with Peters to become general manager. The Commanders announced the hire a few days later.

Peters was one of two finalists along with Chicago’s Ian Cunningham. The 44-year-old joined Washington after spending the previous three seasons with San Francisco as an assistant to John Lynch.

Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, considered one of the top candidates to coach the Commanders, informed them and other teams he was staying with the Lions.

Quinn interviewed for the job the same day at a hotel in the ritzy Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, with defensive coordinators Aaron Glenn of the Lions and Mike Macdonald of the Baltimore Ravens also in the mix. The next day, the Seattle Seahawks hired Macdonald to succeed Pete Carroll as coach.

The Commanders turned quickly to Quinn, reaching a deal to hire the former Atlanta Falcons coach who ran the Dallas Cowboys defense from 2021-23. He signed his contract a couple of days later.

Harris said Quinn "rightfully earned a reputation as one of the NFL’s top defensive minds, building tough, explosive and dynamic teams that compete hard ... but most importantly, he is an incredible leader who brings out the best in his players, coaches and staff.”

Peters and Quinn made the first assistant coaching additions, agreeing to hire Kliff Kingsbury as offensive coordinator and Joe Whitt Jr. as defensive coordinator. Before the Commanders hired Quinn, Kingsbury planned to join Antonio Pierce's staff with the Las Vegas Raiders, but he could not reach a deal and told them he decided to pursue other options.

The Commanders agreed to sign Ertz, a Super Bowl-winning tight end with Philadelphia who was a free agent after being released by Arizona the previous November. The signing reunited Ertz with Kingsbury, who coached him with the Cardinals.

Before the new league year opened, they also had agreements to sign running back Austin Ekeler and quarterback Marcus Mariota. The deal with Mariota was an early sign the team was zeroing in on Daniels, figuring Chicago would take Caleb Williams with the first pick.

Peters made a big splash on the opening day of free agency, signing six-time All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner to a one-year contract worth up to $8.5 million with $6 million guaranteed. He also traded QB Sam Howell to Seattle after the 2022 fifth-round pick started all 17 games of the 2023 season.

The Commanders drafted Daniels, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner out of LSU, choosing him over North Carolina's Drake Maye, who went third to New England. Peters said Daniels was the choice for a while: unanimous within the front office to the point the Commanders were ready to run the draft card up when they were on the clock.

“Selecting a winner like Jayden Daniels will energize the players and our fan base!” co-owner Magic Johnson posted on social media.

Later in the draft, they selected national championship-winning Michigan cornerback Mike Sainristil in the second round and TCU offensive tackle Brandon Coleman in the third, filling a couple of big needs.

After opening training camp in late July not wanting to anoint Daniels prematurely, Quinn announced that he was the starter following a couple of successful preseason games and joint practices. Daniels was 12 of 15 for 123 yards at the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins.

Daniels made his NFL debut, running for two touchdowns in a season-opening 37-20 loss at Tampa Bay. Quinn and the coaching staff talked a lot in the aftermath of that game about Daniels “remaining a passer” and not taking off and running as much as he did against the Buccaneers.

Days after Bengals cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt said the Commanders had a “nice college offense," Daniels lit up Cincinnati's defense in his first prime-time game as a professional. Daniels set a rookie record by completing 91.3% of his passes and outdueling Joe Burrow in a 38-33 win that made the Commanders 2-1.

Beating Arizona 42-14 the following week got Washington off to its first 3-1 start since 2011.

Seven days after leaving a 40-7 rout of Carolina with a rib injury that limited his practice snaps, the Commanders beat Williams and the Bears on Daniels' Hail Mary touchdown throw to Noah Brown.

They went on the road Nov. 3 and defeated the New York Giants to improve to 7-2, the organization's best record through nine games since 1996, and Peters acquired four-time Pro Bowl cornerback Marshon Lattimore from New Orleans just before the trade deadline.

After a three-game losing streak threatened to derail Washington's path to the playoffs, Daniels threw for three TDs and ran for another in a 42-19 blowout of Tennessee that sent the Commanders into their late-season bye week on a high note.

In a game flexed to Sunday night and with fellow top-10-drafted quarterback Michael Penix Jr. making his second NFL start, Daniels connected with Ertz for the winning touchdown in overtime to beat Atlanta and send the Commanders to the playoffs.

Zane Gonzalez banked the game-winning field goal off the right upright and through, and the Commanders upset the Buccaneers 23-20 in the wild-card round. It was Washington's first playoff win in 19 years, setting up a trip to the top-seeded Detroit Lions.

Top wide receiver Terry McLaurin turned a short pass from Daniels into a 58-yard TD, the defense forced five turnovers and the Commanders ran the Lions out of their own building with a 45-31 victory. Washington reached the NFC title game for the first time in 33 years, going back to the 1991 season — the team's third and most recent Super Bowl championship.

This story has been corrected to fix that Josh Harris’ group bought the team from former owner Dan Snyder in 2023, not 2022.

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Philadelphia 76ers owner Josh Harris speaks during a news conference in Philadelphia, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, announcing that the 76ers will partner with Comcast, their current landlord, to build a new arena in South Philadelphia and abandon a deal with the city to build the arena downtown,. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Washington Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin (17) stiff arms Detroit Lions safety Kerby Joseph (31) on a 58-yard touchdown reception during the first half of an NFL football divisional playoff game, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Washington Commanders cornerback Mike Sainristil (0) reacts to his interception against the Detroit Lions during the first half of an NFL football divisional playoff game, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Rey Del Rio)

Washington Commanders tight end Zach Ertz (86) celebrates his five-yard touchdown reception against the Detroit Lions during the first half of an NFL football divisional playoff game, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Rey Del Rio)

Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) celebrates a touchdown against the Detroit Lions during the second half of an NFL football divisional playoff game, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Washington Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin (17) reacts to a reception against the Detroit Lions during the second half of an NFL football divisional playoff game, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn and Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury celebrate after an NFL football divisional playoff game against the Detroit Lions, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Mike Mulholland)

Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels celebrates with Bobby Wagner (54) after an NFL football divisional playoff game against the Detroit Lions, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Rey Del Rio)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The United States said an agreement has been reached to ensure safe navigation in the Black Sea as it wrapped up three days of talks Tuesday with Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Saudi Arabia on prospective steps toward peace.

U.S. experts met separately with Ukrainian and Russian representatives in Riyadh, and the White House issued separate joint statements about the talks with Ukraine and Russia. It said the sides have “agreed to ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea.”

Details of the prospective deal are yet to be released, but it appears to mark a revival of a 2022 agreement to ensure safe transit via Ukraine's Black Sea ports that was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey and was halted by Russia the following year. Russia had said the agreement failed to ensure safety of its Black Sea exports.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in televised comments Tuesday that Moscow is open to the revival of the agreement but warned that Russian interests must be protected.

In an apparent reference to the Russian demands, the White House statement on the talks with Russia noted that the U.S. “will help restore Russia’s access to the world market for agricultural and fertilizer exports, lower maritime insurance costs, and enhance access to ports and payment systems for such transactions.”

The White House statement also mentioned that the parties agreed to develop measures for implementing an agreement reached in President Donald Trump’s calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to ban strikes against energy facilities in Russia and Ukraine.

After the Trump-Putin call last week, the White House said the partial ceasefire would include ending attacks on “energy and infrastructure,” while the Kremlin declared that the agreement referred more narrowly to “energy infrastructure."

Meanwhile, a Kremlin official said Tuesday that the talks between U.S. and Russian officials in Riyadh the previous day would likely lead to further contacts between Washington and Moscow, but that no concrete plans have yet been made.

The three days of meetings — which did not include direct Russian-Ukrainian negotiations — are part of an attempt to hammer out details on a partial pause in the 3-year-old war in Ukraine. It has been a struggle to reach even a limited, 30-day ceasefire — which Moscow and Kyiv agreed to in principle last week -- with both sides continuing to attack each other with drones and missiles.

On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the the outcome of the U.S-Russia talks in Riyadh “has been reported in the capitals” and was currently being “analyzed” by Moscow and Washington, but that the Kremlin has no plans to release further details of what was discussed to the public.

“We’re talking about technical negotiations, negotiations with immersion in details," Peskov said, adding that while there are currently no plans for Trump and Putin to speak, such a conversation could be quickly organized if the need arises.

“There is an understanding that the contacts will continue, but there is nothing concrete at the moment,” Peskov said. He added that that there are no plans to hold a three-way meeting between Russia, the U.S. and Ukraine.

Senior Russian lawmaker Grigory Karasin, who took part in the Russia-U.S. talks in Riyadh on Monday, told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti that the conversation was “very interesting, difficult, but quite constructive.”

“We were at it all day from morning until late at night,” Karasin was quoted by the agency as saying on Tuesday.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that Ukraine had "continued deliberate drone strikes against Russia’s civilian energy facilities.”

One Ukrainian drone attack on Monday knocked down a high-voltage power line linking the Rostov nuclear power plant with the city of Tikhoretsk in the southern Krasnodar region, the ministry said, adding that another drone strike had occurred on the Svatovo gas distribution station in the Russia-occupied Ukrainian region of Luhansk.

"Zelenskyy confirms his inability to observe agreements and makes it impossible for outside guarantors of any potential agreements to control him,” the ministry said.

In Ukraine, the number of people injured Monday in a Russian missile strike on the center of the city of Sumy rose to 101 people including 23 children, according to the Sumy regional administration.

The strike on Sumy, across the border from Russia’s Kursk region which was partially occupied by Ukraine since August, hit residential buildings and a school, which had to be evacuated due to the attack.

Meanwhile, Russian forces launched one ballistic missile and 139 long-range strike and decoy drones into Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian air force. Those attacks affected seven regions of Ukraine and injured multiple people.

Associated Press writer Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed to this report.

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, a paramedic evacuates an elderly resident whose house was hit by Russian attack in Sumy, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire following a Russian attack in Sumy, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, a psychologist works with residents of houses which were hit by a Russian attack in Sumy, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire following a Russian attack in Sumy, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)