Washington has scored touchdowns on nine of 17 red-zone trips while allowing opponents to score on 18 of 22. Monday’s loss to San Francisco showed both sides of the problem.

The Washington Commanders entered their bye week with a red-zone issue: opponents scored 18 red-zone touchdowns, while Washington scored 9. That's a problem on both sides of the ball for a team that has already seen close games slip away.

The Commanders have scored nine touchdowns on 17 red-zone trips, or 52.9%, tied for 21st-best with the Bengals. Opposing teams have had five more trips (22 total) but scored nine more touchdowns (81.8%), which ranks Washington 31st in red-zone touchdown rate allowed through Week 6.

Against San Francisco, Washington allowed touchdowns on three of four red-zone attempts. On the other attempt, K'Lavon Chaisson peanut-punched the ball out of Christian McCaffrey's arms. Washington wasn't able to get points off that takeaway, but San Francisco scored on its next possession to send it to halftime at 20-3.

On the flip side, Washington scored touchdowns on two of its four red-zone trips Monday night. The other two ended on fourth down. Daniels threw the ball away from the 49ers’ 13 in the first half, then Treylon Burks couldn’t hold on at the pylon from the 17 in the fourth quarter. They climbed back in the second half, but those empty trips left points on the field in a 23-17 loss.

Washington lost its first meeting with Philadelphia 24-22, so it already knows how much one missed chance can matter. On November 1 against the Eagles, the test is whether the defense can force more red-zone trips to end without touchdowns and the offense can finish more of its own.

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