Josh Johnson earns rare victory as Commanders nip Eagles

Field Level Media|published: Sun 4th January, 19:47 2026

Jan 4, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Devonta Smith (6) makes a catch as Washington Commanders cornerback Jonathan Jones (31) defends during the second quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Josh Johnson earned his first NFL win since 2018 and the visiting Washington Commanders rallied to beat the playoff-bound Philadelphia Eagles 24-17 in Sunday's regular-season finale.

The NFC East champion Eagles (11-6) rested many of their starters, including Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown and Dallas Goedert on offense and Jalen Carter, Zack Baun, Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell on defense.

Philadelphia had a three-game winning streak snapped and will begin its Super Bowl defense as the NFC's No. 3 seed, hosting the San Francisco 49ers in a wild-card playoff game next weekend.

Johnson, 39, collected just his second win since entering the league as a 2008 fifth-round draft pick. The previous victory was a 16-13 win over Jacksonville on Dec. 16, 2018.

The Commanders (5-12) won for just the second time in their last 12 games.

Down 17-10 in the fourth quarter, Johnson threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to John Bates with 9:35 left and rushed for a 1-yard score with 2:32 to play to seize the lead.

The Eagles had nine penalties for 123 yards, including costly pass-interference flags on both of Washington's fourth-quarter scoring drives.

Tanner McKee, making his second career start for Philadelphia, passed for 241 yards with a TD and an interception. Tank Bigsby had 106 yards from scrimmage with a TD and Jalyx Hunt had an interception and a fumble recovery.

A 27-yard catch by Philadelphia's DeVonta Smith on the final play of the scoreless first quarter pushed him over 1,000 yards (1,008). Four plays later, McKee fired a 15-yard TD strike to Grant Calcaterra for a 7-0 lead.

After a pass-interference penalty in the end zone gave Washington first-and-goal at the 1, Chris Rodriguez punched in the tying score with 9:03 left in the first half.

Jeremy Reaves' goal-line interception of McKee led to a 56-yard field goal by Jake Moody on the final play of the first half, putting the Commanders up 10-7.

The Eagles regained the lead at 14-10 on Bigsby's 2-yard run midway through the third quarter. Jake Elliott's 39-yard field goal extended the lead to 17-10 with 30 seconds left in the third.

--Field Level Media

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