Washington Commanders fans had waited over three decades to see their franchise win 11 games in a season; they could hold out a little longer.

As stressful as the first 60 minutes of the night were for the Commanders as they tried to earn their first playoff berth since 2020 in a primetime matchup with the Atlanta Falcons, the last seven minutes were about as worry-free as possible for an overtime scenario. Of course, having a franchise quarterback who possesses a knack for delivering in clutch moments tends to relieve some tension.

After dealing with self-inflicted penalties and a myriad of missed opportunities, Jayden Daniels came up big once again with 354 total yards and three passing touchdowns, the last of which being a two-yard dart to Zach Ertz to seal a 30-24 win over the Falcons and clinch a playoff berth in the first season of head coach Dan Quinn's tenure.

The Commanders secured their 11th win for the first time since 1991.

As soon as Ertz secured the pass from Daniels on third-and-goal, bedlam and several decades' worth of anticipation erupted at Northwest Stadium. Players stormed the field; fans in the stands went wild; and Jeremy Reaves made the night even better by proposing to his girlfriend (and for those wondering, she did say 'yes').

No matter where one looked, there were signs of a new era in the franchise's history.

"This organization is in a great spot for years to come," Ertz said.

Washington has now earned the No. 6 seed in the playoff picture thanks to their win over the Falcons and the Green Bay Packers' loss to the Minnesota Vikings. They'll need to close out the season with a win over the Dallas Cowboys to hold that spot.

Sunday's win over the Falcons felt like an odd repeat of last week's win over the Philadelphia Eagles, from the dramatic finish to the mistakes that put Washington in a hole to start the night. The team committed 13 penalties for 108 yards, several of which kept the Falcons' offense on the field. Their last foul in regulation -- a pass interference on Michael Davis -- moved the Falcons in range for what could have been a game-winning field goal. Fortunately for Washington, Riley Patterson's 56-yard attempt was short.

Also like last week's last-second win over the Eagles was how Daniels came through when his team needed him most. Down 17-7 at halftime, Daniels accounted for 230 of the team's 261 yards in the second half and overtime. He rushed for 127 yards on 16 carries, which put him at 864 for the season and broke Robert Griffin III's single-season rookie quarterback rushing record. He completed 67% of his passes and became the eighth rookie quarterback in NFL history with five straight games with at least two touchdown passes.

Daniels joined Mike Vick as the only quarterbacks in NFL history to record 225-plus passing yards, three-plus passing touchdowns and 125-plus rushing yards in a single game.

And there's another thing that the Eagles and Falcons' games had in common: they started ugly for the Commanders. Quan Martin took advantage of an errant pass from Michael Penix Jr., grabbing his first interception of the season and returning it to the Falcons' 38-yard line. The Commanders needed seven plays to get the rest of the way, as Daniels completed a seven-yard pass to Olamide Zaccheaus in the end zone.

That was one of the few highlights for the Commanders in the first half. The rest of it was more forgettable for the Burgundy & Gold. The defense held the Falcons to a field goal attempt on their next possession, but an offsides call on Mike Sainristil kept them on the field and later led to Bijan Robinson running in for his first of two rushing touchdowns.

Things became worse for the Commanders on their next two offensive possessions, which ended with a punt and an interception. They got down to the Falcons' 12-yard line after a 13-yard pickup from Zaccheaus, but a holding call backed the unit up to the 22-yard line, and Daniels' only real mistake of the night occurred one play later when Kaden Elliss picked off a pass intended Jamison Crowder.

The Falcons added 10 more points to take and extend the lead on their last two possessions of the half. The Commanders, meanwhile, had trouble getting out of their own way. Daniels was harassed by consistent pressure from the Falcons' defensive front, which picked up five sacks on Daniels. One of them led to a third-and-30, which essentially eliminated the progress gained from a 16-yard run from Daniels.

By the end of the field half, the Falcons led 17-7 in a game that could have easily gone the other way had the Commanders managed to clean up their mistakes.

The Commanders came out of the locker room with a slightly different approach for the second half: lean into Daniels' skill set as much as possible. That formula worked and fueled two critical responses from the offense. Ertz ended a 15-play drive with a 10-yard touchdown that brought the Falcons' lead down to three points, and after the defense forced a three-and-out with an eight-yard strip-sack from Dante Fowler Jr., Washington found the end zone again on a 14-play drive with a two-yard run from Chris Rodriguez.

By the end of the third quarter, the Falcons had possession of the ball for just over two minutes.

It wasn't a perfect half for the Commanders, though. A holding call on Sam Cosmi at the Falcons' 2-yard line helped ruin their chances of getting in the end zone and closing things out early. The Commanders had to settle for a 31-yard field goal from Zane Gonzalez, which left room for Penix' 13-yard touchdown pass to Pitts on fourth-and-goal to tie things up at 24-24 with 1:19 left to play. Daniels and the offense were off the field after three plays, but they were saved by Patterson's miss at the end of regulation.

With the Commanders getting the ball to start overtime, the stage was set for Daniels to have another defining moment. As has been the case on so many other occasions this season, the rookie seized the moment. He converted a third-and-2 with a 16-yard run and had a six-yard scramble to the 2-yard line. On the touchdown pass that ended the game, Daniels knew the Falcons were going to lock down Terry McLaurin, so he targeted Ertz in man coverage near the middle of the field.

The veteran tight end made him right.

"We repped that so many times, I knew he was going to win on that," Daniels said. "He was going to make the catch, and it was going to be game over."

There was "a lot of joy" in the locker room after the win, head coach Dan Quinn said at his press conference. "They're never out of the fight," he later added, and while it isn't always pretty, their determination gives them a chance to win.

"We felt every bit of it, and they really deserve a cool win like that," Quinn said.

It also helps to have a quarterback who can deliver those wins.

"There's some things that five [Daniels] does that you can't put on a card," Quinn said.