Commanders Bank Game-Winning Field Goal Off The Post Vs Bucs

After four lopsided games to start NFL Wild Card Weekend, we finally got a thriller on Sunday night when the Buccaneers hosted the Commanders in Tampa. The two teams got off to fairly slow starts, as Washington led 10-3 late in the first half before Baker Mayfield found Mike Evans for a game-tying TD, setting up a dramatic second half.

The two teams would go back and forth, with both sides holding the lead in the fourth quarter, and there was plenty of drama in the final 15 minutes with turnovers, failed fourth downs, successful fourth downs, and big-time kicks from both sides. After Washington got stopped for the second time in the game on fourth down in field goal range, the Bucs gave it right back on a fumbled handoff, which led to Jayden Daniels finally finding Terry McLaurin for the go-ahead score on another fourth down.

The Bucs would go on a long drive but had a disastrous early snap on 3rd and inches that led to a loss of yards and forced them to settle for a game-tying field goal. They made that to make it a 20-20 game, but as he’s done all season, Daniels orchestrated a beautiful drive — including a sensational third down run that let them run the clock all the way down — to set up the game-winning field goal. Zane Gonzalez, the Commanders’ sixth kicker of the season, made it a bit more interesting than it needed to be, banking it in off the right upright, but unlike a miss earlier in the day by the Broncos off the right upright, this doink bounced through for the win.

Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth delivered a tremendous call, with both getting extremely excited to see something they’ve never seen — a playoff game-winning doink. It’s a gutting way to go out for the Bucs and their fans, but a fitting way for the Cardiac Commanders to continue their season of incredible late-game heroics. Now they will head up to Detroit to take on the top-seeded Lions in the Divisional round, where they’ll need even more magic to take down the NFC’s best team this season.