Bears @ Commanders
Final Score: Commanders 18 – Bears 15
Writer: Zach Whetsel
The ending of this game proved the old adage true once again: Ball Don’t Lie. Unfortunately for the Bears, they had a couple of certified Bears Moments in the fourth quarter to lose today’s game and left shocked with the loss after a successful Hail Mary from Jayden Daniels to Noah Brown. Fortunately for the Commanders, they squeaked out with a ridiculous win in a game that never should have been as close as it was and continued their unbeaten streak at home. Jayden Daniels likely locked up ROTY with his performance, the Commanders move to 6-2, and their fans should feel great about the team’s newfound ability to win games when they matter. It looks like things may have finally turned around for the franchise under new ownership.
Three Up
- Jayden Daniels– Jayden Daniels played a fairly impeccable game today, avoiding any turnover-worthy mistakes against a very good defense and capitalizing with his legs when it counted to earn some infuriatingly impressive first downs. He avoided unnecessary contact, which was of paramount importance coming into a game when his ribs were already injured, and he threw the ball like he wasn’t even in pain for most of the day. The Commanders have to be leaving the game feeling thankful they were the team to land Jayden, regardless of Caleb’s performance.
- D’Andre Swift – Swift was the best player on the Bears’ offense today, a far cry from how he started the season. He fought hard for yards on the every-down runs, broke one wide for 56 yards and the Bears’ first touchdown, and even fully hurdled a defender late in the fourth quarter when the Bears were desperate to score. Swift easily had his best running day of the season so far, and the Bears must certainly be glad to see him growing into a player they can lean on in this offense when things get tough.
- Terry McLaurin – Scary Terry made the most of his targets today, pulling in a beautiful deep target early in the game to set up the Commanders’ second field goal and looking far and away like the most reliable receiving option out there for his rookie QB today. He’s the only receiver out there who looks to be a clear difference-maker for the Commanders, and the people who have been pounding the table for his talent can rest easy knowing he finally has a QB that can take advantage.
Three Down
- DJ Moore – The player that I said in weeks past was the most reliable person on this offense, and the one receiver that was the clear top option has been relegated to “flex and hope” status after today. The Bears are unable to find consistent ways to work DJ Moore into the passing offense, and with his criminal usage, he’s no more reliable than any other boom-or-bust receiving option in the room. The offense has lots to figure out before I’d be comfortable starting any receivers against legitimate opponents.
- Cole Kmet – The other Bears receiving option that seemed to have carved out a defined role in the offense was invisible for most of the game today as well. It feels fair to say that a healthy passing attack from Chicago includes Kmet being a reliable option for Caleb to find in a pinch; of course, the o-line is in shambles, and Caleb was missing throws throughout the first quarter, so the passing attack is anything but healthy right now. Kmet got worked back in on the last drive or two when the Bears absolutely needed to score, but it was far too little, too late.
- Caleb Williams – I saved the worst for last here… Caleb Williams led a pair of extremely impressive scoring drives late in the game (even if one was fumbled away because of the Bears being the Bears), but it wasn’t enough to redeem his putrid stat line through three quarters today, even if it should have been enough to secure the win. Caleb’s position on this list is as much his O-line’s fault as it is his – the starting LT went out early and was replaced by a raw-at-best rookie, and the 2nd and 3rd quarters showcased Caleb running for his life the second the ball was snapped. Unfortunately for Caleb, that won’t be fixed this year, and he clearly had nerves of his own to start the game- he missed a few easy throws on the second drive that would have made things look much better early. It was a rough showing for the rookie after a few nice games against bad teams in weeks prior.
Chicago Bears
Quarterback
Caleb Williams: 10/24 passing, 131 yards | 10 carries, 41 yards
Caleb had another rookie day today. It certainly wasn’t the type of day to leave Bears fans questioning whether or not he’s the future; he stepped up and led two clutch drives in the 4th quarter when it counted most. However, his defense bottled up an impressive Commanders offense, and the Bears could have been in a much better spot early if he had calmed his nerves and hit his throws. He was off-target by a yard or two for much of the game, especially early, and struggled to get it going until the game was absolutely on the line. If Caleb hopes to have an impressive performance like last week’s against a good team, he’ll need to settle in early in one of these games and just hit his throws.
Notes
- The best thing to note is that even with Caleb’s frustrating accuracy issues that plagued much of his early-game performance, he did not have any turnover-worthy throws and protected the football well while the Bears struggled to keep things close. Even in his best game last week against a bad Jags team, he let a ball hang in the air too long for an easy pick on a deep shot- today, there were no such head-scratching errors to speak of. Unfortunately, the improved decision-making just led to 7 punts because he was just entirely inaccurate for much of the game, so the offensive woes remain at least partly on his shoulders.
Missed Opportunities
- Caleb had a number of these today. On the second drive, he air-balled a screen pass to Keenan Allen that was set up to go for big yards just to kick things off. All told, he missed three throws on that drive by my count, including another that would have been a first down to Rome Odunze. For an offense that stalled enough to not score their first points until under a minute left in Q3, it truly was impressive how many opportunities he found to miss throws. Unfortunately for Caleb, his efforts to save his day were ultimately squandered by his defensive head coach rather than Caleb’s own issues. Again, all else aside, Caleb did come through in the clutch.
Running Back
D’Andre Swift: 18 carries, 129 yards, 1 TD
For a running back who was pigeonholed by most of the football community as an ineffective runner and a receiving-game threat only, D’Andre Swift set out to flip the script today. He recorded zero receiving work at all on the day, with no targets or receptions and yet had what was by far his best day this season on the ground. He looked decisive and willing to fight through contact for extra yards; his burst was evident every time he hit the edge, and he even hurdled a defender in the fourth quarter to pick up an extra 5-10 yards. Swift seems to be syncing well with an offensive line that looked terrible in pass pro, and I’d expect the offense to continue to lean on him as they work through their struggles against a pending lineup of tough divisional matchups. It may not be the most reasonable thing to expect Swift to put up 100+ yards on the ground again any time soon, especially at this YPC, but he does have the speed to bust a long run every time he hits the edge, and he was certainly the most reliable piece of the Bears offense today.
Roschon Johnson: 2 carries, 6 yards, 1 TD
Roschon is certainly not a burner, or even a particularly talented RB, but he knows how to dependably grind out tough yards. Unfortunately for the Bears, they turned away from him at the goal line on their first game-winning drive in the fourth quarter, but they did not make that same mistake on their second attempt at stealing away the win. Roschon will never get dependable work in this offense, even if Swift were to go down with injury – he just does not have the burst to be effective on a down-to-down basis. But you can certainly count on him to get valuable touches in short-yardage situations, considering the lack of power Swift brings to the table.
Missed Opportunities
- I mentioned it above, but Roschon could have scored his touchdown a few minutes earlier in the fourth quarter, which, of course, could have led to more opportunities later. Instead, the team tried handing the ball off to a backup o-lineman on 3rd and goal from the 1, and that decision resulted in a fumbled exchange and Commanders’ ball. Even though Roschon got his on the next drive, it certainly felt like a moment where the coaches had to regret not going to ole’ reliable.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Rome Odunze: 3/6 receiving, 41 yards | 2 carries, 13 yards
Rome looks extremely talented when given the chance. He dusted his defenders a couple of times today on some nice routes, bringing in one catch in clutch time late after leaving his defender yards behind him on a fake slant-and-go. Unfortunately for Rome, beyond even the failures of the offense as a whole, he’s in an extremely crowded receiving room, and the concentration of targets will never be strong enough to make him a reliable option this year.
Caleb fully missed him on a play that would have gained 10-15 yards early in the game where he was wide open on third down over the middle. It wasn’t a day where there was a ton left on the table for Rome, as his other two missed targets were on deep balls that had no chance, but that one early was worth noting. It was representative of the Bears’ offense as a whole for much of the game today.
Keenan Allen: 2/7 receiving, 39 yards
Keenan Allen is certainly going to be boom-or-bust in this offense. Unlike early weeks, it seems that he and Caleb are on the same page now… but that didn’t mean that Caleb had any more luck hitting him tonight. The abysmal target-to-catch ratio was a result of Caleb’s inaccuracies alone, and Allen would have had a solid game had Caleb been playing like he did last week. The good news is that Caleb trusts Keenan Allen, especially to make the tough plays; the bad news is that Caleb is a rookie and is struggling to settle in just as much as you might expect in an offense with a terrible o-line and suspect play calling. Keenan’s reliability issues likely aren’t going away anytime soon.
DJ Moore: 2/4 receiving, 27 yards | 2 carries, 7 yards
DJ Moore’s usage tonight was the most criminal aspect of the offensive game planning, and there was not much good to speak of. The offensive coordinator, Shane Waldron, does not know how to regularly work DJ Moore into the offense, and it’s the thing that’s beginning to frustrate me the most about the offensive staff. DJ Moore is not the best route runner on developing, longer routes… however, that hardly matters, because he’s a RAC monster, as strong as anyone at the catch point, and runs a mean short route. Unfortunately for the Bears, the only catch he had until his clutch reception late that got him injured was a poor call on 4th and 1 where he was thrown a spot screen and expected to gain the yard all on his own with defenders crashing down on him the moment Caleb looked his way. If there’s one thing that absolutely must change for the Bears to get right on offense, it’s that DJ Moore needs to get more involved, but I wouldn’t expect that to happen with this staff in charge. He’s a frustrating boom-or-bust option with all the talent in the world this season.
Cole Kmet: 1/1 receiving, 14 yards
Cole Kmet may not be DJ Moore, but it’s a shame to see him utilized as little as he was today. He’s the perfect safety valve as a tight end – his hands are extremely reliable, and he makes up for his lackluster athleticism with some great game sense. Of course, when the QB has only completed 3 passes by halftime, it’s to be expected that some mouths will be left unfed; the real shame is that the Bears didn’t even try to get him going. One target is not enough and likely will not be the norm for Kmet, as his role is not quite as murky as the roles of the other receivers, but he’s certainly a bust risk, just like the rest of the bunch.
Gerald Everett: 1/2 receiving, 3 yards
Everett is the player I like the least when it comes to getting targets in this offense, both because it reminds me that his contract could have gone toward the o-line instead and because it’s a reminder that he’s getting looks that I’d rather see going to Kmet. Everett is not a bad tight end, but he’s unremarkable and will never be a main contributor to this offense. I’d love to even leave him off this list in the future!
Washington Commanders
Quarterback
Jayden Daniels: 21/38 passing, 326 yards, 1 TD | 8 carries, 52 yards
Jayden Daniels was far and away the MVP of this game and almost assuredly earned himself the ROTY award after his performance tonight. He avoided turnovers and moved the ball all game against a defense that, game-ending failures aside, is having an elite season thus far. The Bears haven’t given up more than 21 points in their last 10 or 11 games now, and while Jayden didn’t change that stat, he played incredibly well all game and took whatever the Bears gave him. He frustrated the defense time and time again, converting with his legs seemingly anytime he needed a first down and completing passes left and right that needed perfect touch to end up in the hands of his receivers. If not for several drops, Daniels would have looked even better on the stat sheet; Noah Brown dropped a third-down pass that hit him in the chest for a would-be conversion, and Ertz dropped a touchdown in the first half that he really should have had. This game was a Jayden Daniels legacy game, and the Hail Mary completion to top it off was simply karma considering how perfectly he’d had to play to earn the 12 points that he had up until then.
Notes
- There’s not a ton more to say about Daniels here- as a Bears fan, I can confidently say I’m happy with Caleb Williams at QB so far… but it isn’t lost on me just how incredible Daniels looks. I have nothing but glowing words for how well he played, putting in the most controlled and infuriatingly collected performance of any QB I’ve seen this Bears team face dating back to last season. He picked on Tyrique Stevenson multiple times, put TJ Edwards on skates, and made life more miserable than I’ve ever seen for a defense that only gave up 18 points. ROTY.
Running Back
Brian Robinson Jr: 16 carries, 65 yards | 1/1 receiving, 11 yards
Brian Robinson didn’t run all over the Bears today, but he looked solid in the touches he got. He certainly runs with power, and yet he looks like he might be faster than Ekeler even so – I like the running back as a bellcow for this team. Unfortunately for him, I didn’t come away feeling overly impressed by the run scheme for the Commanders tonight. Their offensive success felt like a result of Daniels succeeding in the passing attack and creating yards on the ground rather than an especially impressive game plan in the ground game. This Bears defense is elite, but their run D can be a little suspect and has been at times this year- I felt like that was somewhere the offensive staff may have fallen short for the Commanders as they struggled to put drives away. That isn’t to say they didn’t try to run, either; it just felt like they took an obvious approach when they did and didn’t help Robinson out by creating a ton of room for him to operate. Regardless, onto the next week, and he will be fine against teams that aren’t holding every offense they face to 21 points or less.
Austin Ekeler: 7 carries, 52 yards | 3/2 receiving, 6 yards
On the other hand, I felt that Austin Ekeler benefited from a willingness by the offensive coaches to give him the ball on run plays when the Bears may have been expecting his presence to indicate passes were coming. Ekeler looks solid and certainly isn’t washed like people thought coming into the season. Still, Robinson is certainly the better pure runner at this point, and Ekeler’s volume will remain low so that his efficiency will remain high. Look for Ekeler to get more involved in the passing game in the coming weeks, as that’s his bread and butter, but he still posted an acceptable week as a fantasy RB4 or RB5 due to his rushing efficiency.
Jeremy McNichols: 1 carry, -1 yards
The backup running back did not have the usage to earn a bigger role and didn’t do anything with his touch to demand more opportunities. He might be viable if Robinson were to go down since Ekeler is best in a limited role, but only because he’d benefit from the talent of his QB buoying him. For now, he’s un-startable in fantasy.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Terry McLaurin: 5/8 receiving, 125 yards
Terry McLaurin is the perfect wide receiver for this offense – he plays smart, scrappy football, is always in the right spot for Daniels when it counts, and earns every single yard he gets. McLaurin might not be the biggest or fastest receiver in the game, but he’s an incredible route runner and knows better than anyone how to burn a DB and make him feel like a fool for ever letting him by. The Scary Terry nickname is the most apt of any I’ve seen in recent memory; you don’t even see him coming, and then he’s killed your defense and laughed in your face about it before you’ve even realized you were his latest victim. I’ve always been a Terry McLaurin fan, and in only five touches today, he took the top of this defense better than any receiver has in weeks. It was incredibly impressive, and I remain excited to see what he does as Daniels’ WR1 for the rest of the year, both in fantasy football and in real life. They are a killer duo.
Zach Ertz: 7/11 receiving, 77 yards
Zach Ertz felt like the opposite of Terry in terms of quiet reliability, at least in my estimation, throughout the game tonight. Ertz mostly had a really solid game but came up short in a couple of moments that felt like they could have blown the top off the game, especially on what should have been a touchdown reception to make it 15-0. Unfortunately, Ertz couldn’t quite maintain possession as he fell to the ground, and the Commanders had to settle for their fourth field goal of the day. It was a tough catch either way, and it was one that the announcers were initially convinced should have been ruled a touchdown, but he ultimately came up short on that one. It just felt to me like the Ertz of old, or a more talented tight end serving as Daniels’ second target, would have put this offense over the top. Instead, he felt like the beneficiary of insane volume because the other receivers couldn’t make things happen against the talented Bears’ secondary and a net neutral to his team’s success rather than a genuine contributor to their win. Regardless, Ertz is solid and stable in his role, so at least for this year, expect him to remain a viable fantasy starter with a rock-solid floor. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him replaced as the team invests in playmakers as soon as next season, though.
Noah Brown: 3/6 receiving, 73 yards, 1 TD
Noah Brown is very lucky to have been in the right place at the right time on that Hail Mary. I suppose it may have been smart coaching, rather than just luck, in that instance… but regardless, the Hail Mary saved what otherwise would have been a very disappointing night and kept him from being a main culprit in his offense’s shortcomings. He had a huge drop on a third down that hit him in the chest over the middle and overall looked extremely uninspiring. The Commanders desperately need another talented receiver alongside Terry to help Daniels out because Noah Brown might have a knack for coming up big in big moments, but he struggles to get the job done on the easy plays. He is not fantasy-viable, even though the volume could be there if he had more talent. Hopefully, someone else can fill the WR2 role next season in this offense.
John Bates: 1/2 receiving, 20 yards
John Bates is another name near the bottom of the box score that will never be viable for fantasy purposes, no matter the situation. Even with a void of true talent on this offense, he does not have a consistent role and only made this list due to the variance that comes week-to-week on who gets the final few targets that come from a talented QB who can spread the ball. I only wish it was Ben Sinnott who was in this role so there could at least be some hope for future relevance here- unfortunately, Sinnott was a healthy scratch this week, earning 0 snaps on offense.
Luke McCaffrey: 1/2 receiving, 8 yards
Luke McCaffrey is someone that many hoped could step into the role of WR2 in an offense that desperately needs one, but so far, he has not shown himself capable despite his family pedigree. He did miss out on what was almost a touchdown early: on a play where it looked like Jayden Daniels was surely just throwing the ball away, McCaffrey actually had a chance to reel it in with a toe-tapper in the back corner of the end zone. It didn’t work out, though, as McCaffrey was shoved out of bounds before getting foot #2 down, and the team settled for another field goal. Other than that play, he was nearly invisible… hopefully he can develop, but it seems more likely than not that it’ll be back to the drawing board for receiving talent on this Commanders squad next year.