Commanders Reacts Survey: Predicting October wins

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Washington Commanders fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

Looking backwards

I want to start this week by looking backwards at the Week 4 and Week 1 survey results.

Week 4 – lead running back

Last week, we asked which of Washington’s 3 active running backs would have the most yards from scrimmage. By a wide margin, respondents said that it would be Bill Croskey-Merritt.

The actual outcome was pretty close, but Bill wasn’t the yardage leader.

Chris Rodriguez actually rushed for 12 more yards on the same number of carries — 7 each. Rodriguez, thanks to his 48-yard scamper on Washington’s first touchdown drive, averaged 8.4 yards per carry, compared to Bill’s 6.7 ypc. Bill’s longest run of the game — 16 yards — came on the next Commanders drive that resulted in a field goal.

Bill did get more touches when you factor in his two receptions, but even with his passing yards, he fell 2 yards short of CRod’s 59 yards from scrimmage.

For those keeping track, the RB with the most scrimmage yards has been different every week of the young 2025 season:

• Wk 1 – Croskey-Merritt 82 yds, 1 TD
• Wk 2 – Ekeler 24 yds
• Wk 3 – McNichols 78 yds, 1 TD
• Wk 4 – Rodriguez 59 yds

It feels inevitable that one of these guys will repeat as the leader in Week 4 since we seem to be out of running backs.

Week 1 – September wins

Prior to the opening game of the season, we invited everyone to predict the Commanders’ overall record for the month of September. Here’s a reminder of those results:

84% of respondents in that preseason survey expected Washington to exceed the .500 mark. Based on comments, it seemed as if most of the people who predicted a single loss were expecting that loss to come on the road in Week 2 against the Packers.

As we know, the Commanders fell well short against the Falcons this past Sunday and finished 2-2 for the month of September.

This week’s questions

Question 1

The first is our standard question that is asked every week of the season (until December, anyway), asking about your confidence in the team’s direction.

Question 2

This question will mirror the preseason question in which respondents were asked to predict the team’s record for the first month of the season — this time, we are asking you to predict the Commanders’ record for the month of October, when they play another 4 games:

• Wk 5 – at the Chargers
• Wk 6 – Bears (home) – Monday Night Football
• Wk 7 – at Cowboys
• Wk 8 – at Chiefs – Monday Night Football

That’s 3 road games, and 2 games on Monday...