The Commanders’ first task on Monday night against the 49ers will be to keep track of the clock. A week after frittering away a simple game-winning field goal opportunity in overtime against the Giants, Washington’s reward is a trip out west on Monday Night Football to face one of the best teams in the NFL. The 1-3-1 Commanders entered the week with the second-worst point differential in the NFC at minus-34, and it’ll take a herculean road effort for them to avoid falling out of the mix in the mediocre East.

The Niners, meanwhile, are on Easy Street. Their 5-0 start has afforded them a shocking degree of cushion in an NFC West that was expected to be the best division in football but so far looks like San Francisco and everyone else. The defending champion Seahawks and MVP Matthew Stafford’s Rams each dropped three games in the season’s first six weeks. Those included a pair of losses to Kyle Shanahan’s team, meaning the Niners have not just a huge advantage in the loss column but (for now) a head-to-head tiebreaker as well. San Fran could hardly have enjoyed a dreamier start.

And yet! The NFL has a way of pulling everybody back toward the middle, so perhaps the world should be on alert for something shocking to happen when the Commanders arrive in Santa Clara.

Commanders at 49ers

How to watch

What to watch for

The Commanders have lots of problems to confront this week, but one of them is new. The bright spot of their tough start has been a robust running game, which ranked fifth in the league in yardage (698) entering the week. The top man in that attack has been second-year tailback Jacory Croskey-Merritt, who carried 11 times for 82 yards in the team’s debacle of a tie against the Giants last week. But Croskey-Merritt is out this week with a groin injury, meaning a heavy running load will shift to QB Jayden Daniels and a veteran running back duo of Austin Ekeler and Rachaad White. Will the Commanders be able to keep up a 4.7-yard rushing average without their lead back?

The 49ers don’t have “problems” these days. The absence of star edge rusher Nick Bosa would have been one, but the 49ers just sacked Sam Darnold five times without him, and Bosa is expected to return from his late-September calf strain for this game. Brock Purdy is playing the best football of his career, and somehow his offensive supporting cast of senior citizens – the very old Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Mike Evans, and Trent Williams – continues to be timelessly great. The defense has been more average than terrific, but you’d expect it to get better as it gets healthier. One subplot to watch will be how quickly Bosa gets back to looking like Bosa, assuming he makes his third start of the year.