The NFC Divisional Round gets under way with the top-seeded Detroit Lions taking on the Washington Commanders, who have finally reached this stage of the playoffs for the first time in nearly 20 years.

Commanders fans, including the ones who are more well-known than most, are giddy about their team's success and bright future.

Four Free Press sports writers have some thoughts on the Detroit Lions' NFL playoffs 2025 opener vs the Washington Commanders.

NFL playoff predictions, picks for Saturday's Houston Texans at Kansas City Chiefs, Washington Commanders at Detroit Lions games. Who wins today?

The team was bought in 2023 by an ownership group led by Josh Harris and including Magic Johnso n, ending the long and painful ownership tenure of Dan Snyder. The new ownership group brought in a new general manager, Adam Peters, a new coach, Dan Quinn, and plenty of new personnel.

Jayden Daniels has turned Washington around from a 4-13 team to one that is two wins away from the Super Bowl; watch Commanders at Detroit Lions in the Divisional Round of the playoffs, live on Sky Sports NFL at 1.

With Montgomery back in the fold, the Lions have a tough, between-the-tackles chain mover to complement Gibbs, who has the hot hand right now and is likely to head into the contest 1A to Montgomery's 1B, which is just fine with Montgomery.

The Washington Commanders weren't supposed to be in this position this season. A little over a season ago the organization started a complete upheaval starting

Everything special about Jayden Daniels manifested for the first time in the NFL over 5.3 seconds on the night of Sept. 23. It was his third game; he was on the road against a supposed heavyweight; he was dueling a superstar whose heavy shadow he had not been able to escape for the previous two years.

Washington defensive tackles Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne line up against Detroit in the NFC playoffs on Saturday night.

ALLEN PARK -- After taking the first-round bye to get right and take a brief breather, the Detroit Lions will host the Washington Commanders in a Saturday night divisional-round showdown from Ford Field. In this post, we’ll answer three burning questions ahead of kickoff.