If you want to sum up the Washington Commanders and their disappointing season in a nutshell, just take a closer look at their wild fight in a Week 16 loss to their NFC East Division rival Philadelphia Eagles.
With 4:26 remaining in the fourth quarter, 4 Commanders surrounded Eagles offensive lineman Tyler Steen and started to brawl; defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw, safeties Will Harris and Quan Martin and cornerback Mike Sainristil.
Steen was ejected from the game, as were Kinlaw and Martin.
“Tyler Steen got jumped by nearly 8 players,” Eagles reporter James Simone wrote on X. “Build him a statue.”
So that’s 4 Commanders vs. 1 Eagle Steen didn’t go down, taking on all 4 Commanders at once — plus a few more — and not going down.
There you have it. The Commanders couldn’t just not win games this season, they couldn’t even win a fight where the opponent was outnumbered 4 to 1.
Like any fight of its proportions, the Commanders were hit with a massive levy of fines from the NFL’s Gameday Accountability team on Saturday, December 27, with Kinlaw ($20,280), Harris ($11,593), Martin ($11,572) and Sainristil ($9,725) all feeling the pinch.
The Commanders have actually lost again since then, falling to the Dallas Cowboys on Christmas Day to drop to 4-12 overall with just one regular season game remaining — on the road against the Eagles in Week 18.
NFL Doesn’t Let Steen Off After Fight
Steen didn’t get away clean by any means.
“Tyler Steen has been fined $8,435 for striking/kicking/tripping/kneeing and $8,435 for (throwing punch),” The Eagles Times wrote on X.
While Steen was fined, it was hard to say him fighting all those Commanders at once did anything to hurt his rep — he avoided a suspension and his Philly street cred probably means he doesn’t buy a meal or drink again in The City of Brotherly Love anytime soon.
While only 4 Commanders were fined, at one point it appeared 8 Commanders were going after Steen and he still didn’t fold. Somehow.
“Tyler Steen decided to fight the entire Commanders defense by himself,” Barstool Philly wrote on X on Saturday, December 20. “EAGLES LEGEND.”
Fight Followed Unnecessary 2-Point Conversion
The fight seemed to be sparked by the Eagles going for a 2-point conversion to go up 19 points instead of just kicking an extra point to go up by 18 points.
“We wanted to make sure we went up that way, just in case. That was what our math told us in that particular case,” Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni told NFL.com. “It’s a division game. It’s always back-and-forth. … That’s the team we played in the NFC Championship Game last year. I know how badly they wanted to beat us. I know how badly we wanted to beat them. We’ve always got to keep our cool in moments like that. But that’s NFC East football. … They’ve got tough guys. We’ve got tough guys.”
The Eagles clinched the NFC East Division title with the win over the Commanders and take their 10-5 overall record on the road to face the Buffalo Bills in Week 17.
The Commanders were eliminated from postseason contention with 4 games remaining in the regular season one year after going 12-5 overall and making it to the NFC Championship Game for the first time since 1991.
Commanders Players Handed NFL Punishment After Week 16 Fight