Cam Newton and C.J. Stroud, move on over. We have a new rookie quarterback king, an absolutely lethal mix of confidence, poise, and gifted ability with ice in his veins.

His name is Jayden Daniels: the new owner of the greatest rookie quarterback season in NFL history.

There's no other conclusion after watching Daniels sparkle like the North Star in a 45-31 upset win over the juggernaut Detroit Lions on Saturday night.

Whenever it felt like the Lions might hem Daniels in, he fired a beautiful touch pass downfield. Every time it felt like the Lions might pull off a rally after the Commanders' offense threw them out of whack, Daniels responded with an impeccable dime over the middle of the field in the face of an onslaught of pressure. Every time it felt like Daniels might finally make a rookie mistake, he just didn't. He kept firing away. He just kept converting first downs with his legs.

Not once did he seem rattled. Not. Once.

At a certain point, it was less about the Lions' struggling defense and more about Daniels not being moved at all by this tremendous playoff moment.

Does this look like a rookie quarterback afraid of toppling a 15-win team in its own house? Blink, and you see an already elite young player ready to evolve into something transcendent.

All season long, we marveled at Daniels' brilliance. We appreciated his rare playmaking and wondered about what certainly seemed like a bright future for the once-dormant Commanders. It was impossible not to get lost in the sauce of Washington's football Renaissance that seemed imminent, inevitable, and above all, sustainable.

But the way we talked about Daniels and Washington in the immediate moment had a very different tenor. The Commanders didn't have enough horses on an undermanned defense. They didn't have enough reliable playmakers for Daniels outside of Terry McLaurin and ageless wonder Zach Ertz. Their offense, while mostly effective, was too simplistic against opposing defenses with better, more overwhelming talent in the trenches. Ultimately, the common assertion was that Commanders were too young, too utterly inexperienced to disrupt the NFL's hierarchy this fast.

It was easy to doubt them, a virtual certainty to put off their stunning rise until the mythical grey area of "The Future."

Now, Daniels has Washington on the brink of its first Super Bowl appearance since the near-end of the George H.W. Bush administration. And he's officially just the sixth rookie quarterback ever to take their team to conference championship weekend.

When you see the company Daniels keeps in this respect, you realize he might truly have the Commanders on the brink of something no one saw coming. You start to realize just how rare and remarkable his achievements were this season.

He might even be the head of his class amongst his peers below:

Whomever the Commanders play next week, be it the Philadelphia Eagles or Los Angeles Rams, they will likely, once again, be a massive underdog. I don't necessarily disagree with such an assessment, either.

This Washington Cinderella run can't continue forever ... right?

Ah, but there's the rub. This is my official word of caution to anyone who still doubts what they see happening in Washington. Daniels is a quarterback who, at this point, may never make that dreaded rookie mistake. He's a special player at the helm of a revitalized Commanders franchise that isn't going anywhere any time soon. Knowing they have Daniels on their side, I wouldn't outright doubt what the Commanders are capable of for a second.

Because they play like they believe in Daniels. And a football team that believes in its quarterback feels nigh-invincible

No matter what happens moving forward, Daniels already has the best rookie quarterback season of all time in his possession. There's no debate. Everything that comes next this postseason is just gravy. Everything he has accomplished for the Commanders this year will already go down in all-time NFL lore.

That, in itself, should be the most terrifying prospect for anyone trying to stop Daniels over the rest of this winter.

He's playing with house money, and it doesn't seem like he's ready to blink.

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This article originally appeared on For The Win: Jayden Daniels cements greatest rookie QB season ever after dismantling the Lions