I know what you’re thinking. Naively, I hoped the announcement of my latest book would be met with unbridled enthusiasm and excitement with fans eager to read about the resurrection of the Washington Commanders. While I received a fair share of congratulations, I was also greeted by a sea of cynicism and ridicule.

“This seems wildly premature,” and “Writing this after one season is ridiculous,” and “What is the point of the book if they didn’t win the Super Bowl?” were among the dozens of mocking messages. So, why would I write a book about the Commanders’ surprising turnaround when they were humiliated by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2024 NFC Championship game?

This story is about so much more than wins and losses. Before I dive into the particulars, let me take you back to January 2025, when the Commanders had just beaten the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild-card round of the NFC playoffs. Incredibly, this was Washington’s first postseason victory since 2005, a span of nearly 7,000 days.

Though the win was significant and advanced their postseason run, what stood out was the franchise’s quick on-field success and its renewed relationships with the fanbase and former players. Thousands of burgundy and gold fans filled the stands at Raymond James Stadium. They came from Florida, Texas, Georgia, and the Carolinas, wearing their old school Redskins jerseys and modern Commanders gear. Hundreds from the District, Maryland and Virginia packed airplanes to Tampa and supported their team. Among the throng was NBC Sports and Golf Channel commentator Steve Sands, who took his wife Val and 19-year-old son Eric to the playoff game to cheer for their favorite team.

Like many sports fans in the Washington metropolitan area, Steve was raised to root for the Redskins and became a diehard who worshiped at the altar of coach Joe Gibbs. When he was 10 years old, Steve started attending games with his parents, who held season tickets passed down in his family dating back to the days of Sammy Baugh and Griffith Stadium. Many of Steve’s favorite childhood memories revolved around the Redskins, whether it was the stands rocking at RFK Stadium or attending their Super Bowl games.

At age 56, Steve had not been able to share the same type of experiences with his family until the playoff win against Tampa Bay. As the euphoric crowd of Washington fans burst into “Hail to the Redskins” in the immediate afterglow of the Commanders’ 23-20 victory, which was decided by a game-winning field goal as time expired, Steve’s son turned to him and said, “Dad, this must have been what it was like when you were 19!” 

Ultimately, the Commanders fell short of a Super Bowl, but the resurgence of the fanbase during the 2024 season is irrefutable. As one of the four hosts of The Sports Junkies radio show on 106.7 The Fan in Washington, D.C., we have a catbird’s seat on the moods of the regional fans. And because we have been on the airwaves in this market for nearly 30 years, we recognize the tone, spirit, affection, depression, elation, temper, whimper, and inclination the fans experience. You hear it in their call-ins to the show and you read it on their tweets.

But that’s why the fervor of what the Commanders achieved in 2024 was so critical. After 24 years of frustration, disappointment, and disgrace under the toxic ownership of Dan Snyder, winning again was thrilling, and having an electrifying rookie quarterback in Jayden Daniels catalyzed the dormant fanbase. 

“The quick turnaround is about new ownership, better management, and the best coaching staff they’ve had in decades,” said long time Redskins fan and historian Samu Qureshi, known for having the team’s best memorabilia collection in the country. “The revival is beyond J.D. It’s about sensible people making sensible decisions and getting the team on the right trajectory.”

Of course, Qureshi is referring to the new ownership group led by Josh Harris that bought the Commanders from Dan Snyder in late July 2023. It’s almost hard to fathom the joy that swept through the fans, media, politicians, coaches, employees, active players and alums. Harris bought everyone a beer at our radio station’s “Burgundy and Sold” event just after the sale became official, and his ownership group has since pushed all the right buttons since.

Before Snyder’s reign of destruction, the Redskins were one of the most respected and celebrated franchises in the NFL. From 1937, when the Redskins moved from Boston to Washington, the team’s history was relatively simple. They were an elite franchise, winners of two NFL Championships and three Super Bowl titles.

As time passed, through lean years and championship seasons, Washington built a large and intensely loyal fanbase over four generations. But that all changed under Snyder’s stewardship, or lack thereof. By the end of his tenure, the team wasn’t even named the Redskins anymore, a political correctness pressure many fans will never forgive. Instead of holding one of the most cherished tickets in football at rockin’ old RFK, the Commanders’ concrete dump of a stadium perched on a Prince George’s County hump was often infiltrated by fans of the opposing team. Thousands of empty seats were disguised as patrons. 

Countless fans vowed never to return and swore they wouldn’t put another dollar in Snyder’s pocket. As the on-field losses mounted and hopelessness endured, anger and apathy grew. But at a breakneck pace, the Commanders’ new owners have worked vigorously to erase many of those ills. The entire operation needed a makeover.

For example, when Harris was informed the team had finished dead last in the NFL Players’ Association report card for the second year in a row, he fabulously joked, “I’m not an F-minus guy.” One year later, Washington jumped from 32nd to 11th as the Commanders Park headquarters was transformed, addressing everything from travel accommodations to having a cafeteria chef to daycare, all suggestions that were based on player feedback. There have also been $75 million in improvements at Northwest Stadium.

Optics matter, and within a very short time, the Commanders went from being an NFL laughingstock to a destination where players wanted to be, thanks in great part to new head coach Dan Quinn’s culture, Jayden Daniels’s dynamism, and the most basic fan request: Don’t suck. The latter is rarely a guarantee in modern sports, however.   

According to The Washington Post, the Commanders sold 12,000 new season tickets heading into the 2025 season, leading the NFL in growth. They also signed 64 new corporate deals, jumping into the top third of the league. Most notably, they added seats back to the stadium after years of stripping them out. Still, there are skeptics. One person claimed, “Faith will not be restored fully until REDSKINS come back.”

Personally, I do not think the Redskins’ name will ever come back. The NFL will not allow it to happen and will never grant them licensing rights. These are real-world realities. The Harris group has turned the page and embraced the Commanders’ moniker. While some fans claim they’ll never return until the old name is restored, the current generation of young fans are embracing the name and team. 

Some fans may scoff at the notion that faith is restored. Perhaps you’re suffering PTSD from the destruction of the franchise during the Snyder era, when every move was seemingly the wrong one. An entire generation-plus that lived through so many lost games and years finally got to taste the glory days during the Commanders’ 2024 season. Before that, they had only heard stories about the Super Bowls, Sonny and Billy, Riggo and the Hogs, the atmosphere at RFK, and the electricity of the Washington market on football Sundays. 

That is the reason I decided to write this book. There are three major themes: history, renovation, and revival. That was the takeaway as the clock was winding down in the Philadelphia defeat. That is why wins and losses are not the lone measuring stick of how far this franchise has come. And that is why “Faith Restored” was written now instead of waiting for an undetermined day down the road.

Many fans believe their faith in the franchise will not be restored until Washington wins another Super Bowl. The parity-driven NFL does not always cooperate, meaning the usual cynics will never be pacified, and the ridiculers will always live in their echo chambers. 

Look around. Faith is anew among kids, young adults, and those who love Washington football, no matter the team name. A Washington Post poll in April 2025 found that 50 percent of the D.C. market supported the Commanders’ name; a year earlier, 54 percent hated it. Enthusiasm for the home team is a refreshing change.

When Washington played the Atlanta Falcons in Week 17 in 2024 with a playoff berth on the line, NBC’s Mike Tirico noted during his Sunday Night Football telecast, “The burgundy and gold is back out everywhere you look around D.C.” He wasn’t lying. 

No one is saying the Commanders are a finished product on or off the field, but the recurring storyline has fans engaged and invested again. ESPN’s Louis Riddick said, “I’m telling you, it could be like the old days, man.”