TAMPA, Fla. — New team owners. New general manager. New head coach. New franchise quarterback.
That's the formula — with an emphasis on the QB — that Washington rode to playoff success after nearly two decades of pro football futility.
Jayden Daniels ran for a critical first down to set up Zane Gonzalez's 37-yard field goal that clanged off the right upright and went through as time expired, and the sixth-seeded Washington Commanders beat the third-seeded Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23-20 in an NFC wild-card game Sunday night, securing the franchise's first postseason win in 6,945 days.
Daniels, playing with a bandage beneath his right eye after his face was bloodied, became the third NFL rookie quarterback in three years to win a playoff game.
The Commanders (13-5) will visit the top-seeded Detroit Lions (15-2) in the divisional round next weekend. The winner of that one plays for the conference crown.
"It means a lot, man," Daniels said. "You could just see all the fans over here, man, they're waiting for us. They've waited a long time for this moment and this feeling, so I'm just so happy for them."
Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers (10-8) missed several opportunities, and the veteran quarterback committed a costly turnover in the fourth quarter. The Bucs couldn't get a single yard on two tries from the Washington 12 and settled for a field goal to tie the game before the Commanders drove for the winning kick.
Daniels threw for 268 yards and two touchdowns, joining C.J. Stroud of the Houston Texans and Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers as rookie quarterback to win playoff games in the past three seasons.
Washington hadn't won in the postseason since beating the Bucs 17-10 in a wild-card game in Tampa on Jan. 7, 2006.
The turnaround for the organization began in 2023, when Daniel Snyder sold the team formerly known as the Redskins (and then, briefly, the Washington Football Team) to a group led by Josh Harris that includes NBA legend Magic Johnson. They hired GM Adam Peters and coach Dan Quinn after their first season in control, then selected Daniels with the No. 2 pick in the draft last April.
"You've got to give Josh a lot of credit, because we picked the right people," said Johnson, who has followed up a basketball career that included six NBA titles with success as an entrepreneur. "When you pick Adam Peters and you pick Coach Quinn, and they picked the right players, the culture changed. You went from a losing culture to a winning culture.
"But it's about those players. They decided they wanted to win. They didn't worry about what all the analysts said. And the right quarterback. Enough said right there."
The Bucs opened the season with a 37-20 victory at home against the Commanders in Daniels' NFL debut. A year after winning the Heisman Trophy at LSU, he went on to have an outstanding season, helping Washington improve from 4-13 to 12-5 and earning a Pro Bowl selection.
Now he has the Commanders headed to Detroit, where they'll have to deal with quarterback Jared Goff and the Lions' high-octane offense.
"We're not going to give up until the clock hits zero," Daniels said. "We're going to keep fighting until the end."
After Tampa Bay's defense held inside the 5-yard line in the opening minute of the fourth quarter to preserve a 17-13 lead, Mayfield gave the Commanders the ball right back when he fumbled an exchange on a handoff to Jalen McMillan. Washington recovered at the Tampa Bay 13.
On fourth-and-2 from the 5, Daniels connected with Terry McLaurin in the back of the end zone for a 20-17 lead.
"It's disappointing because I believe in this team because we have the talent and the coaching staff to go far," Mayfield said. "I did some dumb stuff, and it'll wear on me for a while."
Mayfield drove the Bucs to second-and-1 at the Commanders' 12 but they settled for a 32-yard field goal by Chase McLaughlin that tied it at 20 with 4:41 left.
The Bucs never got the ball back, thanks to Daniels, who calmly led his team downfield. With less than a minute left, he was hit behind the line of scrimmage but scrambled for 4 yards on third-and-2, allowing him to take a knee to set up the winning kick by Gonzalez.
"Obviously it's disappointing," Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowles said. "You don't want the season to end like this. But we don't point fingers. We had our chances to win, but obviously it wasn't good enough.
"We think we have a very good football team when everybody's clicking on all cylinder. The effort was outstanding. We hung together all year. We've been through some things. We've got to eat it, take it on the chin, and get better in the future."
Quinn previously passed up short field-goal attempts on fourth down twice, and the offense failed to convert before McLaurin's touchdown catch.
On fourth down from the Tampa Bay 4 less than a minute into the fourth quarter, Daniels threw incomplete. He was pressured and threw incomplete on fourth-and-2 from Tampa Bay's 20 on Washington's first possession of the game.
"We were going to be bold," Quinn said, "but not reckless."
Mayfield's 4-yard touchdown pass to Bucky Irving gave the Bucs a 17-13 lead in the third quarter. On the previous play, 350-pound defensive tackle Vita Vea was the intended receiver, but Mayfield got sacked for a 2-yard loss.
Mayfield had fired a 1-yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans to tie it at 10 late in the first half.
Gonzalez kicked a 22-yard field goal to give Washington a 13-10 lead on the opening drive of the second half. The Commanders had a first down at the 3, but Tampa Bay's defense held.
After Austin Ekeler ran 2 yards on fourth-and-1 from the Tampa Bay 23 late in the first quarter, the Commanders went ahead a few plays later to complete a 92-yard drive. Daniels, with his face bloodied, completed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Dyami Brown for a 7-3 lead.
A holding call on cornerback Zyon McCollum negated a third-down sack by Yaya Diaby and allowed Washington to extend its next drive that ended with Gonzalez nailing a 50-yarder and making it 10-3.
McLaughlin had kicked a 50-yard field goal on the opening drive, and it seemed like the best of signs for the home team. The Bucs were 9-1 when they scored first in the regular season.
On this night, it was scoring last that mattered.
"The defense had just done a hell of a job getting us the ball," Mayfield said of having to kick late when the touchdown bid fell short. "It's unfortunate, but that falls on me."