Washington’s Biggest Problem in 2025 – Slow Starts

By: Sam Myer 10/16/25

Through six weeks of the 2025 NFL season, the Commanders sit at 3-3 in 2^nd place in the NFC East. Their three losses have all come to NFC opponents, which does not bode well for their playoff chances should a wild card spot come down to a tiebreaker. The loss on Monday was their second primetime loss of the season, both to NFC North teams. Additionally, their other loss was on the road in Atlanta, being the only NFC South team, they’ll face this season. Washington only has three more NFC matchups outside the division, and they’ll likely need to win all three to have a good chance at the playoffs. This will certainly be a challenge with their defense performing the way it has through the first six weeks.

While there have been disappointing performances on both sides of the ball and the coaching staff alike, there has been one consistent theme from four of their six games. In each of these four games, Washington has started each down at least 10 points. These slow starts have been crucial in each of their three losses and has turned into a troubling theme.

In all four of these games Washington differed the opening kickoff until the second half, which was something that Dan Quinn seldom did in his first season as head coach in 2024. The Commanders routinely put their offense on the field first to make a statement and get the energy up for the entire team, but this hasn’t been the case in 2025. The reason is unclear for this change, but the effect has been obvious in each game. The defense has struggled in every game from preventing opposing offenses between the 20s, which puts the offense in difficult positions without any momentum. It wouldn’t be a shocking change to see Washington take more opening kickoffs in order to get off to fast starts and control games from the jump.

Once Washington has gotten the ball, they’ve gone three and out on their first possession with no called runs to the running backs. The only “slow start game” where this didn’t happen was this past Monday against the Bears, but that possession ended in a redzone interception by Jayden Daniels. In those first three games, it was very odd when Kliff Kingsbury didn’t commit to the run immediately to start the game. Washington has mostly dominated running the ball so far this season but is each of their three losses they’ve started off by getting away from their identity.

The final reason that I believe Washington has gotten off to slow starts is because they are missing their pre-game motivator in Terry McLaurin. McLaurin is the emotional leader of this team and his absence on game day has certainly been apparent on the field; however, the impact off the field may be even greater. Terry was often seen giving pregame speeches in the tunnel prior to kickoff and has always been a great locker room leader throughout his career. While his absence is not the reason why Washington starts every game slowly, it will provide a boost to the team’s energy out of the gate. One last thing I can’t help but mention is that Washington is still rotating its captains every week. This made sense in 2024 when the squad had new faces all over the place between the roster and the coaching staff. However, in 2025, it seems that the lack of continuity hasn’t had the same effect as last year.

The cause of the slow starts could come from a variety of areas, but the effect is undoubtedly clear. A 3-3 record and three NFC losses out of the division have caused their playoff chances to take a hit. In the next month Washington has a very tough stretch of games against the Cowboys, Chiefs, Seahawks, and Lions. They are going to need to start fast in each one of these games in they want to head into the final stretch of the season in playoff contention.