It has been less than two years since Dan Snyder relinquished control of the Washington Commanders, but it must feel like a lifetime for the fans, such has been the transformation since.

The former owner presided over a somewhat toxic era for the franchise, on and off the field, and his decision to sell up in April 2023 was as good as it had got for some long-suffering fans. Until now.

Because what has actually been a lifetime for any fan under the age of 34 is the wait for their team to return to the NFC Championship game – and that wait ends on Sunday.

In the 1990-91 season they beat the Lions to take the NFC тιтle and Bills to lift the Lombardi Trophy. This time the Lions have been defeated a round earlier, to set up a тιтle game with their division rivals the Philadelphia Eagles.

It is the culmination of a season that was unthinkable two years ago in the dying embers of the Snyder era, the background to which was the inquiry into ‘Sєxual misconduct and a persistently hostile work environment’ and his years-long refusal to accept that the ‘Redskins’ name was no longer palatable.

Worse for the fans was that the off-field issues were seemingly reflected in a directionless team, with many voting with their feet, as evidenced by games being played out in front of swathes of empty seats at FedEx Stadium.

Jayden Daniels has had an incredible rookie year and is one game away from the Super Bowl

Magic Johnson, one of the new owners of the Commanders, poses with fans and cheerleaders

‘Dan Snyder has destroyed a once-proud franchise,’ Commanders fan Eric Bickel, the co-host of the radio show The Sports Junkies, told the Washington Post in 2022. ‘[The attendance], it’s humiliating, but this is what happens when you alienate the core of your fan base.’

Fans were angered by the mere five winning seasons under Snyder. But the off-field issues dominated the news cycle. The allegations against Snyder’s organization were varied, but equal in their objectionableness. 

There were the 25 female former employees said they were Sєxually harᴀssed during their time with the team, including the claim that Snyder demanded a video compilation of ‘lewd’ outtakes from the ‘Beauties on the Beach’ video, chronicling the making of the 2008 cheerleader swimsuit calendar. 

Then there were claims of financial misconduct: the team may have withheld up to $5million in refundable deposits from season-ticket holders; and that the team may have kept two books to hide records of income that should have been shared across the league. In short, he ripped off fans and other teams.

The toxic Dan Snyder era of the Commanders is now just a memory for fans of the team

The last time the Commanders got to the Super Bowl was 1992, when they beat the Bills

There was also the row over the Redskins name, which he finally relented after the killing of George Floyd pushed insтιтutionalized racism to the top of the new agenda.

In February 2022, the league hired Mary Jo White to investigate allegations of misconduct against Snyder. Seventeen months later they ‘sustained both Tiffani Johnston’s allegation of Sєxual harᴀssment by Mr. Snyder and Jason Friedman’s allegation of deliberate underreporting of NFL revenues by the Club to avoid its VTS sharing obligations’. There was not enough evidence to support this involvement in the calendar issue, but it spoke to the toxic environment that it happened at all.

He was ordered by the league to pay $60million, a drop in the ocean for a man who sold the franchise in 2023 for $6billion to a consortium led by the Crystal Palace shareholder Josh Harris and involving the basketball legend Magic Johnson.

It was against this background that Ron Rivera had done his best to make the team compeтιтive, but when they finished the 2023 season with a 4-13 record it was time for the new owners to act. They brought in Dan Quinn, the renowned defensive coordinator who had been the head coach of the Falcons in the 28-3 Super Bowl collapse against the Patriots. A head coach and franchise each with a point to prove can be a potent combination.

There was also a key new face in the front office in the form of Adam Peters, the general manager, who had been the ᴀssistant GM at the 49ers for three seasons. He and Quinn set about their work with gusto.

This latest chapter of the franchise really starts 12 weeks after Quinn was hired; more specifically at the moment the Chicago Bears took Caleb Williams as the first overall pick. That decision opened up the way for the Commanders to take the 2023 Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels with the second pick.

Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs is carried off the field after guiding his team to the Lombardi

Josh Harris, who also owns the Philadelphia 76ers, is the new Washington Commanders owner

Did they know he was as good as he has proved? Unlikely – though NFL pundit Dan Orlovsky reminded us last week that he was saying the Bears should go for Daniels over Williams at the time. Then there is the clip of Joe Schoen’s son telling him to trade up for Daniels, but the Giants GM decided against taking the advice. The Commanders certainly knew they had a man who would elevate the offense.

Obviously it has helped that there were offensive weapons in place to help the new man. Despite having a host of second-rate quarterbacks getting the ball to him Terry McLaurin had managed 1,000 yards in four consecutive years after getting 919 in his rookie year in 2019. Unsurprisingly he emerged as Daniels’ favourite target this regular season as he amᴀssed 1,086 yards. But it was his touchdown production that markedly improved, with 13. His previous best had been seven.

Then there was the running back Brian Robinson Jr, who only played two-thirds of the season but went for 789 yards and eight touchdowns. In fact Daniels proved to be the Commanders’ leading rusher, his 891 yards setting a record for the most rushing yards by a rookie quarterback in league history, beating the 815 yards of forner Washington first-rounder Robert Griffin III. And that came on top of Daniels’ 3,568 yards and 25 touchdowns through the air.

But as much as the remarkable run this season has been down to Daniels seamlessly slotting into the offense, the real benefit to the team came in the aggressive approach to free agency as the new main men showed their worth.

A pH๏τo from July 2020 shows a sign welcoming fans to the ‘Washington Redskins’ stadium

Many of the biggest contributors in the win over the Lions, especially on defense, in the Divisional Round only joined the franchise in the past 12 months. This suggests a front office that is doing more than simply paying lip-service to building a winning team (Jerry Jones take note). For this Peters and Quinn really have to be commended.

Safety Jeremy Chinn, who had seven tackles, five ᴀssists and an interception – on the game’s last meaningful play – against the Lions, turned down a higher offer from the Steelers for the chance to work with Quinn last March. He signed two days after Frankie Luvu, the linebacker who had five tackles and four ᴀssists last Saturday, had penned a three-year deal. Bobby Wagner, the veteran linebacker who was part of Quinn’s Legion of Boom defense in Seattle a decade ago was also brought in; eight combined tackles and 0.5 sacks were his contribution against the Lions. Then there was Marshon Lattimore, a former defensive rookie of the year acquired from the Saints for picks in November, with four tackles.

But it was not just veteran defenders – the rookie cornerback Mike Sainristil, the 50th overall pick, picked off Jared Goff twice. All the players stepped up when needed to, a sign not only that they have been well coached, but that the team has found players with the right mentality to thrive in a Dan Quinn side. Sometimes in the league finding a guy with the right mindset is harder than finding a guy with the right skillset.

As for the free agency veterans on the offense, Austin Ekeler and Zach Ertz have made important contributions all season, even without putting up the numbers. And though they were relatively quiet in the Divisional Round Ertz did score the touchdown that opened up the crucial ten-point half-time lead.

Dan Quinn has guided his Washington team to the NFC Championship game in a brilliant year

Like Wagner, Ertz knows what it takes to win a Super Bowl having done so with the Eagles seven years ago, when he scored in the 41-33 victory over the Patriots.

On Sunday as they face a febrile Linc crowd, Saquon Barkley, Jalen Carter et al, it is these players who will be crucial in ensuring Daniels keeps his head – not that he has shown signs that he doesn’t relish the big stage.

When Snyder paid $800million for the Redskins — at the time it was the highest price paid for a sports franchise — in 1999 he said: ‘That’s what I want, to bring home a Super Bowl trophy for the Redskins.’

He didn’t, but his departure has paved the way for a team who can.