Doug Williams owned a single quarter of football and changed the sport with it. Super Bowl XXII, January 1988, Williams becoming the first Black quarterback to win a Super Bowl and doing it by throwing four touchdown passes in the second quarter alone, a rookie named Timmy Smith running for over two hundred yards beside him, Washington burying Denver 42-10. A barrier fell and a blowout happened in the same afternoon.

Five trips, three trophies, and yes, one over my Bills

Washington has won three Super Bowls and lost two. They lost VII to the perfect Dolphins and XVIII to the Raiders. They won XVII on a John Riggins fourth-down run that broke Miami’s back, won XXII on the Doug Williams quarter, and won Super Bowl XXVI, January 1992, by beating my Bills 37-24. That last one I watched go wrong from early on. It was the second of our four. They were simply better that day.

What I keep from it

Three trophies in a decade, and one of the most important individual performances the game has ever seen in Doug Williams. The fact that one of those rings came at my team’s expense does not change the weight of what Williams did. Commanders fans, you have a barrier-breaking night that outlived the score. From a man who lost to you, that is the part of your history I tip my cap to.