Washington Commanders missing an opportunity by keeping NFL's worst name

The Washington Commanders name has been a source of controversy and debate since it was unveiled in 2022, and it appears that debate is going to continue for at least the short-term future.

Commanders owner Josh Harris told reporters during his postseason press conference on Monday that the team had no intention of changing their name now, according to ESPN's John Keim.

"I think it's now embraced by our team, by our culture, by our coaching staff. So we're going with that," Harris said.

The owner also noted that the name had started to become part of the team in the last year

"The name Commanders means something," Harris continued. "It's about players who love football, are great at football, hit hard, mentally tough, great teammates. It's really meaningful that that name is growing in meaning."

While this may be true, Washington is passing up the opportunity to take one of the most boring, generic team names in all of sports and do something really cool with it, and rebrand themselves into something more interesting.

Washington's old name needed to go; there was no denying that that move was long overdue by the time it happened in 2019. There were some fantastic names in the mix during the process, as well (personally, I liked the Washington Redtails, a nod to the fighter planes flown by the Tuskeegee Airmen during World War II), but the team instead settled on Commanders, a name that somehow manages to be less interesting and more generic than even the Houston Texans.

It's vaguely militaristic without linking to a specific branch, and the team has leaned hard into that sort of imagery in their branding, using block lettering and more militaristic styles around the organization. It has no history attached to it, no real through line to the community in which they play beyond the fact that there are members of the military in and around Washington D.C. There's nothing unique, nothing interesting, nothing cool about Commanders.

And fans agree; per Keim, 58 percent of fans didn't like the name prior to the start of this season, although after their run to the NFC title game, that number might be somewhat different.

There's a lot to like about Washington right now; they have a dynamic, exciting offense, and continue to have maybe the single best color scheme in all of football (the maroon and gold always looks good).

It's just a shame that it's all wasted on such a boring team name.

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