Another D.C. team enters semifinals as underdogs

For 26 years, it was a place Washington, D.C., professional sports teams had only visited once. From Super Bowl XXVI in January 1992 until the Stanley Cup Finals in June 2018, the 1997-98 Capitals were the only Washington team among the four major North American sports to reach its league semifinals.

Unfortunately, the Capitals’ run that season ended with a four-game sweep at the hands of the Red Wings in the finals. And to add salt to the wound, that was the last time local fans would cheer on a deep postseason run for the next 20 years.

But over the last seven years, D.C. sports fans have enjoyed six separate runs to not only league semifinals, but league finals and four championships. And they’re in the midst of an impressive seventh now.

The Capitals started this trend in 2018, when – after years of playoff disappointment – they finally got past the second round (and the rival Penguins) to make the Eastern Conference Finals. They upset the top-ranked Lightning in seven games to get back to the Stanley Cup Finals and then beat the favored Golden Knights in five games to win the franchise’s first championship.

A year later, the Caps’ BFFs, the Nationals, made their improbable run to a championship. After the now infamous 19-31 start, the Nats fought back to make the postseason as a Wild Card. With unforgettable moments and incredible comebacks, the Nats finished their fight to win the World Series while knocking off the top-seeded Dodgers, the favored Cardinals and the heavily favored Astros along the way.

At the same time, the Mystics won their first championship after falling in the WNBA Finals the year before and losing in the semis two years prior.

In 2021, the Spirit won their first National Women's Soccer League championship as the underdog No. 3 seed. They then made a run to the finals last year with an upset win in the semifinals and almost another one in the finals, though they eventually finished as the runner-up.

And now, 33 years to the day after that last Super Bowl win, the Commanders, the team that started Washington’s championship drought back in 1992, will get their long-awaited shot at the NFC Championship Game and a trip to the Super Bowl.

Yes, after three decades of failure and embarrassment, the local football team is finally back as one of the NFL’s final four teams. Two more wins – one this afternoon against the favored rival Eagles in Philadelphia and another one in Super Bowl LIX against either the Chiefs or Bills (who would both be favored against the Commanders) – and the Washington football franchise would return to its former glory. A glory that generations of fans, myself included, have never known.

To do so, they’ll have to follow the footprints of the neighboring teams.

After years of being among the NHL’s favorites to hoist the Stanley Cup, the Capitals did so in a year in which they weren’t expected to make a deep run. After four National League East championships and four subsequent first-round exits, the Nationals made their run to a World Series title in the only postseason they qualified as a wild card.

And here are the Commanders, who just a year ago finished 4-13, second-worst in the league. But that bottoming out allowed them to draft quarterback Jayden Daniels out of LSU with the No. 2 overall pick and change the franchise’s trajectory. (Does a No. 2 overall pick out of LSU sound familiar, Nats fans?)

Daniels – along with general manager Adam Peters, head coach Dan Quinn and a host of other players – has now led the Commanders to the NFL semifinals in just his first year, the team’s second under new managing owner Josh Harris. Along the way, there have been upsets, comeback wins and even a Hail Mary to make this improbable run even more memorable. (Again, does that sound familiar?)

If the Commanders win today, Daniels will become the first rookie quarterback to lead his team to the Super Bowl. They’ll also be the first Washington football team to reach the Super Bowl in a generation. (I was born three months after the Super Bowl in 1992. My son was born in December, and has seen the Commanders go 6-0 and already reach the NFC Championship Game.)

They’re one win away from even more glory.

As the Caps, Nats, Mystics and Spirit know, this city rallies around its champions. The Commanders are now finding that out quickly.

For being the most powerful city in the world, we sure love an underdog.