Admittedly, a lot of the potential luster in Monday's matchup between the Washington Commanders and Kansas City Chiefs has diminished. While the Chiefs come in riding high off back-to-back convincing wins over the Detroit Lions and Las Vegas Raiders, the Commanders literally and figuratively limp into this one sitting at 3-4 after back-to-back losses to the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys.
Even a potentially exciting quarterback matchup between Patrick Mahomes and 2024 Rookie of the Year Jayden Daniels had cold water dumped on it when it was announced Daniels would miss the game with a hamstring injury.
There are not many common themes between these two teams at this juncture of the 2025 season. Even with the Commanders’ past moniker being somewhat paralleled to the Chiefs’ branding, you can't call this a rivalry in any way. The two teams have squared off 11 times in their histories, and Kansas City is 10-1 in those matchups. One thing that is intriguing about this one, though, is the amount of change that has taken place over the past eight years, spanning the last three matchups of these squads.
The Chiefs aim for a third straight win over Washington, no matter what name they go by.
The last time the Commanders—er, Redskins—came to Arrowhead Stadium was 2017. Mark that as one team name/mascot that Washington carries into the last eight years of this head-to-head. That game, too, was a Monday night affair with Kirk Cousins clashing with Alex Smith. The touchdown scorers in this one are a blast from the past: for Washington, Terrelle Pryor and Ryan Grant found paydirt. For Kansas City, Smith found the end zone with his legs. Oh, and the ageless wonder, Travis Kelce, also scored on a 17-yard pass from Smith. This game was highlighted by a miracle last-second strip-sack touchdown return by Justin Houston on Cousins that sealed the game at 29-20 and covered the spread for Kansas City.
The last time the Commanders—er, well, Washington Football Team—played the Chiefs at all was 2021 in Washington. Who could forget a matchup in the storied rivalry of Patrick Mahomes and Taylor Heinicke? This game was not much to write home about, with the Chiefs winning easily 31-13. Darrel Williams scored twice on the ground for Kansas City, and Demarcus Robinson and Tyreek Hill added touchdowns through the air from Mahomes to account for the lion’s share of the Chiefs’ scoring. Heinicke found Ricky Seals-Jones for Washington’s only score.
A win for the Chiefs would signal their first-ever victory over this version of the Washington football franchise and would give them three consecutive wins over the same franchise but three different mascots. This would make the Chiefs only the second non-NFC East franchise to hold wins over the Redskins, Football Team, and Commanders versions of Washington, joining the Green Bay Packers.
Yeah, this one is going to be weird. We may be digging deep for talking points in this one, but let's just hope tomorrow's talking point is a third straight victory for the Chiefs.