It was an objectively terrible season on the field for the Washington Commanders. Sunday’s blowout loss to the Dallas Cowboys was its thirteenth defeat of a season with only four wins. The team’s offense was poor and the defense was perhaps the worst in the National Football League. There were quarterback benchings, bad clock management, and lots of lopsided scores.

This spectacularly bad showing led to the firing Monday of head coach Ron Rivera after four seasons at the helm.

But despite this, fans, analysts, and managing owner Josh Harris, have more hope about the team’s future than they’ve had in years. That’s in large part due to new ownership and the potential for a young, franchise quarterback.

“Fans should be more hopeful and more excited than they’ve ever been before,” says Grant Paulsen, co-host of a local sports talk show on 106.7 The Fan. “Really, since the early 90s when Washington was winning Super Bowls.”

It was back in July when many fans celebrated the official end of the Dan Snyder era with the team’s sale to an ownership group led by Josh Harris. Snyder’s twenty-four-year-long tenure as owner was marked by lawsuits, culture issues, sexual harassment scandals, and lots of losses. For countless fans, new ownership meant a new beginning.

“All I’ve known is a toxic environment,” 30-year-old fan Jamual Forrest says. He writes for the Commander-centric blog Hog Haven and hosts a podcast about the team. “I’ve been cognizant of football for close to twenty years now. That is one of the more frustrating things to realize.”

Forrest says that right away it was clear the Harris-led ownership was bringing a sense of stability, professionalism, and vision to a franchise that was missing all of those things for a long time.

When the football season began in September, expectations were high. There was a shift in the vibe at the season’s first game at Fed Ex Field under the new ownership; the team even won the game.

The on-field success didn’t last, though. The Commanders beat the New England Patriots on November 5 for their fourth win of the season. They would not be victorious for the rest of the season, finishing on a seven-game losing streak.

“It was terrible, man,” KC Malone tells DCist/WAMU. His family has had season tickets for more than sixty years and he goes to nearly every game. “It was an abysmal product. They invented new ways to lose.”

As the season took a turn, Fed Ex Field stands started filling up with fans for opponent’s fans, and it became clear that big changes also needed to happen. And that’s exactly what happened on Monday morning, only hours after the team’s last game of the season.

At a press conference later that day explaining the firing of Rivera, Harris said “We weren’t good enough this year. We didn’t get it done on the field. So, we’ve decided to go in a direction.”

He also announced that they’ve hired several well-known executives, including a former NBA champion, to help with the hiring of the team’s next coach and general manager.

Plus, because of all of the losses, the team was awarded the much-coveted second pick in the NFL Draft. It’s likely the Commanders will select a highly-touted quarterback prospect (possibly local Caleb Williams) with that pick. There’s also a chance that the team could finally announce a return to the District.

This clean slate already has many excited for what lies ahead.

“Now the new owner gets to pick a new [general manager], and that new GM will hire a new head coach,” says Paulsen. “And that new head coach will be working with the new quarterback. It really is an incredible time in D.C. sports.”

Even the most cynical of fans has already moved on from the disappointment of this season to envisioning a not-so-distant future where wins are piling up and trophies are being raised.

“I speak for the millennials, the people that never saw any winning. This is the first time in my entire life where I feel like the team actually is on track to do the right thing,” Malone says. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen any kind of fresh start. I couldn’t be any more enthused by this.”

Northern Virginia resident Ed Paisley grew up going to games when the team played at RFK Stadium, specifically citing his attendance at the famed 1983 NFC Championship game when John Riggins ran all over the Dallas Cowboys. He had season tickets until he finally gave them up in the mid-2010s because of the “manner in which [Snyder] ran the team.” He hasn’t gone to a game since.

But now he too is looking forward to next year.

“I couldn’t be happier. I have high hopes,” Paisley says. “It’s amazing that [Commanders fandom] has endured given what’s happened over the last several decades… But I think we got a good chance to turn things around quickly.”

Quickly doesn’t necessarily mean a Super Bowl win in 2025. A new head coach, a revamped roster, and a rookie quarterback all usually need time to grow and jell. For some fans, though, a turnaround simply means a return to competence and competitiveness.

Malone is confident that by this time next year, he’ll be feeling a good deal different about the team’s fortunes on the field.

“I hope I’m smiling that we either almost made the playoffs or we’re heading into it,” he says. “[Now] when I go to games, I just hope they’ll win. When you call me next year this time, I’ll be expecting them to win.”