The Washington Commanders faced a huge test on Monday night when they battled the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. It was a test they ultimately failed, as the Chiefs scored 21 unanswered points in the second half to come away with a 28-7 win.

Terry McLaurin and Deebo Samuel returned to the field with varying success, but without Jayden Daniels, the offense struggled in a big way. Losing Laremy Tunsil in the middle of the game with a hamstring injury certainly didn’t help, either. Their inability to sustain drives directly impacted the defense at the end of the game, too.

Before we turn the page to Week 9, let’s grade Washington’s loss to the Chiefs with our Week 8 report card.

Offense

Marcus Mariota is a capable backup against most teams. The Chiefs are not most teams. Losing Tunsil definitely hurt the offense, but his loss isn’t the reason the offense struggled. Mariota threw two interceptions; however, the first was on Deebo Samuel, who bobbled the ball on the first drive, killing any momentum the Commanders had coming into the game. Zach Ertz hasn’t done much of anything all season. He caught just four passes for 16 yards on Monday. The running game was practically nonexistent; the actual running backs combined for 11 carries for 31 yards. Mariota added 28 yards, leading all rushers.

On the bright side, Mariota played how he always plays, and Terry McLaurin looked like he was back to himself on the field. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to keep the offense on the field or to score more than seven points.

Grade: C

Defense

Despite allowing 28 points to be scored, the defense was actually a bright spot on Monday night. They caused two turnovers, but the offense could not capitalize, and they sacked Patrick Mahomes three times. Quan Martin led the defense with 14 tackles (10 solo), followed by Bobby Wagner, who recorded 10 tackles (seven solo) and one pass deflection.

Javon Kinlaw left the game with a shoulder injury, which took away depth along the defensive front. He appears to be okay, but we’ll see what happens with practice this week. With Dorance Armstrong, Deatrich Wise, Javontae Jean-Baptiste, and Drake Jackson already on IR, this defense can’t take many more hits. Still, despite getting gassed at the end and allowing Mahomes to do Mahomes things, they weren’t bad.

Grade: B

Special teams

Well. This is awkward. Usually one of the better parts of the Commanders’ games, special teams play was not good on Monday. Jaylin Lane muffed a punt and caused the ball to go out of bounds, resulting in extremely poor field position for the Commanders. They were forced to start their drive at their own 2-yard line, down 14-7 early in the third quarter. That muff crushed any remaining hope or positivity the team had left.

Other than that, special teams wasn’t terrible, but that caused a major problem. Special teams can make or break a team, and this week, it broke the Commanders.

Grade: D

Coaching

Kliff Kingsbury did not call a great game on Monday, and there were a lot of mistakes made. There wasn’t any real expectation that the Commanders would win on Monday, so maybe that’s why the coaching staff did what they did. The defense played well, but the injuries are a problem.

Grade: C