Dan Quinn beat Dan Campbell at his own game, and it got the Commanders to NFC Championship

The Washington Commanders are in the NFC Championship Game for the first time since their last Super Bowl season in 1991, shocking the No. 1 seed Detroit Lions 45-31 in a thrilling upset.

While the main stories will undoubtedly be the latest sparkling showing from rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, the disastrous five turnovers by the Lions offense (including four from Jared Goff), and the continued injuries for the Lions defense, the fourth-down decisions made by head coach Dan Quinn set the tone for the entire night.

On Washington’s opening drive, Quinn went for it on fourth and 1 in field goal range against the Lions defense. Marcus Mariota failed on the sneak and couldn’t pitch the ball out to Daniels.

That was Washington’s only 4th down failure of the evening.

While Dan Campbell has thoroughly earned his with the reputation for being the NFL’s most aggressive fourth-down coach, Quinn’s offense was the league’s best in fourth-down situations, converting 20-of-23 (87%) in the regular season. What they lacked in overall volume they made up for with ruthless efficiency.

In their 23-20 Wild Card win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Commanders were 3-of-5 and both of their touchdown drives involved fourth-down conversions. Against the Lions, they converted their last three fourth downs, all within field goal range, and effectively picked up a fourth conversion when Detroit was flagged for too many men on the field. All of those drive-extending successes led to Washington touchdowns.

If you’re keeping score, five of the Commanders’ seven touchdown drives this postseason involved at least one successful fourth-down conversion. The Commanders offense has only punted once during that span.

The recipe for a Commanders upset always involved opportunistic plays from the defense and an offense willing to be, to quote Quinn himself, “bold, but not reckless” on fourth downs. They needed touchdowns, not “take the points” field goals, to beat the highest scoring team in the league. Even with the five takeaways and a pick-six, Washington’s defense still allowed over 500 yards of offense and 31 points. The offense repeatedly going for it on fourth down and turning likely field goals into touchdowns was one of the deciding factors of this monumental Washington victory.

In a cruel twist of fate for Lions fans, Dan Quinn gave Dan Campbell a big spoonful of his own medicine in his own house, and now Quinn’s Commanders are a win away from an improbable trip to the Super Bowl.