Could not challenging a call come back to haunt Dan Quinn and the Commanders against the Eagles in the NFC Championship game?

Quinn ignored 20-plus years of organizational dysfunction to lead Washington to the NFC title game in his first season as coach.

Daniels wanted to see the defeat through, even if that only meant handing off the ball on the final meaningless drive. Coach Dan Quinn had seen enough and gave Daniels a breather. His bid to become the first rookie QB to reach a Super Bowl was officially over.

Exactly three years ago — on Jan. 21, 2022 — Dan Quinn walked into the Giants ’ training facility in East Rutherford and interviewed for their head coaching vacancy. By this point, the Giants had already hired Joe Schoen as their new general manager. They were trying to find a head coach to pair with him, after fully cleaning house following 2021.

The margin between reaching the Super Bowl and not reaching the Super Bowl can be razor thin. On the NFC side of the postseason bracket, seven different teams have reached the big game in the last 10 years.

Quinn's second shot at being an NFL head coach is going incredibly well so far, and it's partly because of lessons from his previous stops.

The NFC championship game Sunday between the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders is the third matchup of the season between the division rivals.

Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels has had a special rookie season. He’s the heavy favorite to win Rookie of the Year. His athleticism frustrates defenses. He helped oversee an 8-win turnaround. He’s been money in crunchtime and just became the first rookie QB to win a road playoff game since 2012. To summarize: he’s a problem.

One Cowboys defender is watching Dan Quinn change the culture for the Commanders, much to his immediate surprise.

No one has given them a real chance at doing something special. Offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury credited Quinn's ability to galvanize the locker room with some players having a chip on their shoulder due to the narrative that they were sent to Washington "to die" in a football career sense.

Daniels has delivered Washington’s best season-to-season win improvement from 4-13 to 12-5, and he has been the centerpiece of an offense that has 10 games with zero turnovers — the most for the franchise since at least 1940, according to Sportradar.