National Football League

Here's what was happening the last time the Commanders won a Super Bowl

Updated Jan. 25, 2025 4:32 p.m. ET

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For the first time in 33 years, the Washington Commanders will play in the NFC Championship Game, facing the NFC East-rival Eagles in Philadelphia on Sunday (3 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app).

That same season (1991) was also the last time that Washington won the Super Bowl.

A lot can change in three-plus decades, and we've rounded up the biggest moments that happened in the NFL and sports world, pop culture and around the globe the last time that Washington won a Super Bowl:

• Washington became the all-time NFC East leader with three Super Bowls after winning Super Bowl XXVI, with Philadelphia yet to hold up the Vince Lombardi Trophy once in the Super Bowl era.
• Joe Gibbs was in what became the penultimate season of his first stint as Washington's head coach (1981-92). Gibbs later returned to the sidelines to coach Washington from 2004-07.
• The Arizona Cardinals were still in the NFC East and stayed through the 2001 NFL season.
• The Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers didn't exist.
• The last time that Washington and Philadelphia met in the playoffs (1990 wild-card round in Philly), they played in Veterans Stadium. Lincoln Financial Field became the new home of the Eagles in the 2003 NFL season.
• The New York Yankees drafted infielder and future Hall of Famer Derek Jeter roughly four months after Washington's Super Bowl triumph.
• The Minnesota Twins won the 1991 World Series. They have since won just two playoff series (2002 and 2023).
• There were just four divisions in MLB.
• Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls were in the second season of what became an NBA three-peat and six titles in eight seasons.
• Pat Riley was in his first season as the head coach of the New York Knicks.
• The Vancouver Grizzlies were the NBA's only team based in Canada.
• The Pittsburgh Penguins repeated as Stanley Cup champions (1991 and 1992).
• Mark Messier was in his first season with the New York Rangers, with whom he won the 1994 Stanley Cup.
• The WNBA didn't exist; it was founded in 1996.
• The Miami Hurricanes split national title honors with the Washington Huskies, giving Miami its third national championship title in five seasons. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes' former head coach, Jimmy Johnson, was three seasons into being the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, who were yet to win the Super Bowl with him.
• There were 10 teams in the Big Ten. Imagine that?
• The Duke Blue Devils went on to repeat as men's college basketball champions, marking their second championship under head coach Mike Krzyzewski.
• The Stanford Cardinal won its second women's college basketball championship in three years under head coach Tara VanDerveer.
• In 1991, Bryan Adams had the No. 1 song, "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You," with Boyz II Men having the No. 1 song in 1992, "End of the Road."
• Dr. Dre's first album, "The Chronic," was released in December 1992. A year earlier (1991), Tupac's first album, "2Pacalypse Now," and Pearl Jam's first album, "Ten," were released.
• "White Men Can't Jump," "A League of Their Own," "Beethoven," "My Cousin Vinny" and "Sister Act" were among the movies released in 1992.
• "Barney & Friends" and "Martin" were among the shows that began in 1992. Meanwhile, season two of "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" was in progress, "Seinfeld" was in season three and "Cheers" was in its penultimate season.
• The Star Wars world was on a hiatus, as there was a 16-year gap between movies; "Return of the Jedi" was released in 1983, and "The Phantom Menace" was released in 1999.
• The "Mission: Impossible" film series didn't exist. In the meantime, Ethan Hunt/Tom Cruise starred in "A Few Good Men" in 1992.
• Just a few months after Super Bowl XXVI, "Super Mario Kart" was released for purchase. Want to play the popular game on an Xbox or PlayStation? That's not going to happen because they didn't exist in 1992.
• Soccer star Neymar, country music singer Lainey Wilson, actor Jennette McCurdy and pop stars Selena Gomez and Nick Jonas were born in 1992.
• The world wasn't yet introduced to Woody and Buzz, with "Toy Story" being released in 1995.
• JetBlue Airlines and AirTran Airways didn't exist.
• Roughly a year-and-a-half after Washington's last Super Bowl win, the C-17 Globemaster III was first implemented.
• The Animal Kingdom theme park in Disney World wasn't built. Furthermore, Hollywood Studios was hovering at three years of age.
• Sticking with the Disney theme, the Disney Cruise Line wasn't a thing; it became one in 1998.
• FOX Sports didn't exist.

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Derek Jeter