There was no hiding what the priority was for the Washington Commanders heading into the offseason with a new head coach and general manager. Dan Quinn and Adam Peters came to the DMV with the goal of turning the franchise into a playoff contender, and with half the roster, which finished 4-13 in 2023, hitting free agency, it was clear some steps needed to be taken before achieving that.

The main question was how long that would take, and after Sunday's 37-20 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it's clear there's still a long way to go.

"You do have to take the lessons from tonight," Quinn said during his postgame press conference. "Otherwise, the pain is not worth it."

It was easy to get caught up in the excitement of the Commanders making so many offseason moves, because most of them were objectively good decisions for the team. The linebacker position was a problem in 2023, so they signed future Hall of Famer Bobby Wagner; after realizing they needed a new quarterback, they drafted Jayden Daniels with the No. 2 overall pick; and while the secondary was clearly going to need time to improve, they at least signed and drafted new players who could help the defense.

There were some positive signs in training camp that Washington was at least on the right path long-term, but Sunday's game was the first real chance to show it was headed in a new direction. And while Tampa Bay looked the part of a playoff contender, the Commander played like a group that was...well, in the first year of a rebuild.

"I can't really speak for the whole team," Daniels said. "I don't want to speak for the defensive guys, but on the offensive side, man, we can't shoot ourselves in the foot. Once we get rolling, we get rolling."

Daniels certainly took part in some of the self-inflicted wounds, throwing his first pass of the game backwards for a loss and missing an open Terry McLaurin on what could have been a touchdown to start the second half. Daniels was largely fine in his rookie debut, though, completing 17 of 24 passes for 184 yards.

But Washington never found a way to consistently execute against a Buccaneers defense that lost multiple key players throughout the afternoon. Some of that came from an inability to finish drives with points, thanks to Cade York's missed field goal attempts, but it also had to do with simply not getting enough from its skill players earlier in the game. As Washington headed into the locker room for halftime, only one receiver had registered a catch.

As McLaurin put it in the locker room, "We just didn't quite execute the way that we wanted to.

"But I'm not discouraged," McLaurin added. "I have a lot of faith in him [Daniels] over there and I know I'm going to get more opportunities. So, I've just got to stay focused and be ready. Those are the type of plays that change games, so going down the stretch this season we want to try to connect as much as possible."

Defensively, many of Washington's problems from 2023 made a return against a Buccaneers offense that was humming with Baker Mayfield under center. The unit allowed nine plays of at least 15 yards, many of which came on third down. The Buccaneers converted on 69% and scored two of their touchdowns on their attempts.

Quinn said the Buccaneers' third downs were "certainly the story of the game."

"I don't know how many third downs, but for him [Mayfield] to avoid some sacks to go and I thought a number of our missed tackles will be on the quarterback, just finishing and taking the extra step," Quinn said. "Those are the things we've got to work on."

And with it being Week 1, Quinn and the Commanders do have time to correct their mistakes. While discussing one area in which the defense struggled -- tackling -- the head coach brought up topics like tracking and "taking the next step...instead of diving or reaching."

After seeing the Commanders fail to bring down Mayfield and his weapon, Quinn said "we've got work to do in that."

"You can absolutely work on it without being padded. In fact, OTAs, training camp all the way through. My experience has been it usually starts a little slower defensively because you do need to be in these fights, but it is absolutely something that you can work on without being padded and the tracking and taking the next step is usually the two."

And while Quinn likes what Daniels showed as a competitor, the Commanders don't want him to take big hits or scramble for 16 carries.

"We certainly don't want the ones that are inside and where helmet gets knocked around," Quinn said. "Those are things that we can work through for sure."

And after losses like the ones the Commanders experienced on Sunday, the only thing they can do is teach and get better. This weekend's lesson was to make sure mistakes don't prevent them from capitalizing on opportunities.

"We have to find the answers," Quinn said. "Not just, 'Oh, let's try harder.' Let's get it better."

And sometimes, the only way to improve is to experience losses like what the Commanders went through on Sunday.

"So, a lot to work on, and Tampa was the better team today," Quinn said. "You need the struggle to see the identity develop. You don't want it, but you do need it. That part is hard, and that struggle happened tonight. So, we'll take these lessons, and we'll work on them."