Week 17 · 2025–26 season
Commanders
L 23-30 vs Cowboys · Dec 25, 2025
Misery Index · Uneasy
Commanders fans shrugging at another loss while quietly noting J.Croskey-Merritt and J.Newton might be worth something.
The emotional rollercoaster
Fan misery across the game window. Up is worse.
What happened
J.Croskey-Merritt's 72-yard house call gave the building life, and the third-string operation looked genuinely competent for stretches — but Dallas converted every fourth down it tried, and K.Turpin's 86-yard catch-and-run made the math impossible. The encouraging part is that backups and young guys competed; the exhausting part is that competing is now the ceiling worth celebrating in Week 17. Seven points better than miserable still goes in the loss column.
What fans said
“Not bad. Played an actual competitive game with a 3rd string qb and some of young guys looked good while doing it.”
u/hehexdddddd8273▲ 259hope
“Keep this up Johnny Newton and you got yourself a very bright future”
u/fake143▲ 186hope
“The people demanding Quinn's head are actually out of touch with reality.”
u/SirMctrolington▲ 145frustration
“6/6 4th down conversions is embarrassing.”
u/schmeats01▲ 114rage
“Bill showed out. Newton had his best game as a pro.”
u/DCdem▲ 113joy
“Rivera got four years and DQ got us to a place we haven’t seen in years…. In the first year of a rebuild no less.”
u/Stunning-Arm-6761▲ 59pride
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