Brock Purdy #13 of the San Francisco 49ers and Sam Howell #14 of the Washington Commanders meet after a game at FedExField on Dec. 31, 2023.
In a season of mostly lows and a few early highs, Washington delivered a solidly mid performance Sunday afternoon in a 27-10 loss to San Francisco.
Defensively, the effort was fine, particularly in the red zone — but not good enough to beat a good 49ers team. Offensively, Washington moved the ball relatively well, but a pair of interceptions doomed an otherwise solid start from Sam Howell.
Sam Howell? Yes, despite Commanders head coach Ron Rivera publicly benching Howell on Wednesday, the second-year passer still got the start after a late-week hamstring injury to veteran Jacoby Brissett.
The quarterback roller coaster aside, Washington put forth a tough effort in a contest that Las Vegas oddsmakers expected them to lose by two touchdowns. San Francisco is a significantly better team than Washington, and eventually that talent won out.
The Niners are stacked with stars seemingly all over the field, although none of them exactly went off. San Francisco star running back Christian McCaffrey looked dominant early, but he was kept out of the end zone on multiple red zone tries before leaving the game in the second half with a leg issue. Deebo Samuel played well and scored a touchdown, but the stats don't jump off the page. Chase Young, the former No. 2 overall pick for Washington, came back to town wearing a Niners jersey and had a quiet performance.
It was a pretty sleepy afternoon in a stadium packed with 49ers fans, and the Washington faithful seemed more ready for the season to end than another week of meaningless games.
Washington Commanders
News4 Sports coverage of the Washington Commanders.
There are no secrets about the Commanders situation.
At 4-12, the meaningful portion of the 2023 season has been closed for some time, and it seems that major wholesale changes will be coming after the Week 18 finale against Dallas.
The big questions — new coach, new general manager, new quarterback — won’t be answered for at least another week, and some could take multiple weeks. So that leaves Washington fans in an odd limbo.
The reality is: With a high draft pick in real range, there’s not much incentive to win games, but the players on the field still have no choice but to go all out.
Sunday’s loss to the Niners was nothing but another reminder that the end is near for the Rivera era in Washington.
San Francisco is built to win championships. Washington couldn’t even keep it close.
