The Washington Commanders are a professional American football franchise based in the Washington metropolitan area. They are members of the East division in the National Football Conference (NFC) of the National Football League (NFL). The Commanders were founded in 1932 as the Boston Braves, named after the local baseball franchise.[1] The franchise changed its name the following year to the Redskins and moved to Washington, D.C. in 1937.[1] In 2020, the team retired the Redskins name after longstanding controversies surrounding it and briefly played as the Washington Football Team before becoming the Commanders in 2022.[1]
There have been 31 head coaches for the franchise, four of which played for the franchise during their career. Joe Gibbs is the only coach to have more than one tenure with the team.[2] Two different coaches have won NFL championships with the team: Ray Flaherty in 1937 and 1942, and Joe Gibbs in 1982, 1987 and 1991.[3] Gibbs is the all-time leader in games coached and wins, and Dudley DeGroot leads all coaches in winning percentage with .737.[4] Of all the coaches, seven have been elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Flaherty, Turk Edwards, Curly Lambeau, Otto Graham, Vince Lombardi, George Allen, and Gibbs.[5]
- ^ a b c "Washington Commanders Team History". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
- ^ "Joe Gibbs' Coaching Record". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
- ^ "Washington Redskins Championship History". NFLTeamHistory.com. Archived from the original on April 22, 2008. Retrieved March 14, 2008.
- ^ "Dudley DeGroot's Coaching Record". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
- ^ "Hall of Famers by Franchise". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved March 14, 2008.