In the midst of all the talk about how lousy the Bears defense was, the fact that the Commanders also have significant problems in the secondary was kind of overshadowed. But when the Bears came to play and the Commanders didn't, those issues were magnified. Painful night for a couple of key Washington guys, and those of us counting on them.
Dick Butkus passed away yesterday, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought (along with RIP, of course, great player and seemed to be a good guy), that it might turn out to be inspirational timing for his former team. And who knows, but there's no denying that one team was playing with a lot more fire and emotion than the other, from the line of scrimmage on out. From the very start it looked like Washington was going to have trouble in the trenches, and that's how things played out. If the Bears didn't get some sort of energy from that development, it sure looked like it.
QUARTERBACKS
Couple of guys in this game I don't think too highly of. You may think I came out of this one with increased respect for Justin Fields and a lower opinion of Sam Howell. But you'd be wrong.
With Fields, he deserves some love. You go on the road on a short week and throw for 282 yards and 4 touchdowns in leading an upset win, you get some praise. He eluded a couple of sacks and made several nice throws, including for the touchdowns. Hats off to him.
But my view of him as a quarterback is still pretty similar. A lot of the successful throws were easy ones to wide open receivers. When previewing this game I said the Commanders had some holes in their secondary, but even I didn't imagine just how bad they'd be trying to cover Chicago receivers. DJ Moore ran by guys trying to cover him all night. Darnell Mooney did the same, he just reacted poorly to one deep throw that he would have caught by simply not turning completely around, then was laughably interfered with on another. The Bears were up 27-3 at the half and if Fields were better it might have been 35-3. A deplorable bit of secondary work.
This will also be my first (but not only) mention of the officiating. I don't know what game the refs were watching, but it must have been an entertaining one. Two times that I recall -- including right before his second touchdown pass that made things 17-0, so it was a pretty big play -- Fields was getting sacked and heaved the ball wildly into nowhere to avoid it. Neither time was a whistle blown or penalty called, even when the ball landed in the midst of four different Chicago linemen. He also missed several really easy throws, the most critical being the play that Khalil Herbert got hurt on. Even a decent throw there and Herbert might have gone for a long touchdown. But like the other easy throws he made in Herbert's direction, it was an underthrown dying quail that couldn't be hauled in, and Herbert's efforts resulted in an ugly knee/ankle twisting that ended the running back's night. Long story short, I'll continue to start defenses against Fields, and continue to believe he will not be Chicago's starting quarterback a year from now.
Howell had an ugly interception right before the half, but I came away with some appreciation for the good things he did. (Especially the fact that he wound up with a huge performance for me in the multiple leagues I started him in; Justin Herbert's bye, Trevor Lawrence poor matchup: 388 yards and 2 TDs.) He lofted what looked like a pretty nice should-have-been 39-yard touchdown to Dyami Brown that Brown simply failed to extend his hands for in the end zone; it was like he forgot he was the wide receiver on the play. Guess that's why he's never emerged in the offense. Of course, he took 5 sacks from a team with almost no pass rush, and a lot of his production was garbage-time. But he's not the reason they lost last night. I'll give him slightly better odds of still being an NFL starter next season. Slightly.
RUNNING BACKS
Not much to talk about here. Brian Robinson got stuffed early in a short-yardage play that was blown up in the backfield, and suddenly it was 17-0 and that was it for the running game. Robinson at least caught a few passes to salvage a lousy but not invisible night; just one of those games where Chicago's D-line looked way more into the game than Washington's O-line. Receiving prop for Antonio Gibson also paid off, but no running to speak of for the offense.
Khalil Herbert looked really good running it, finding holes and powering through them quickly. I'm not a big Herbert fan but he looked legit last night. Roschon Johnson left early with a concussion, but Herbert was going to be featured anyway, as he was last week. Sadly Herbert got hurt trying to catch a badly thrown ball and didn't return, or he'd have had a huge game. D'Onta Foreman might get a chance to be active next week, although Johnson should clear the protocol by then, should Herbert need to miss a game.
RECEIVERS
Lumping the wide receivers and tight ends together, since there are overlapping points. First, huge game for DJ Moore. I won't take anything away from him, he's great and has dealt with lousy quarterbacking for his entire career, he deserves a big night every once in a while. Almost had another long touchdown, ruled to have stepped out of bounds (incorrectly, I believe). Please tell me you didn't bench him, we ranked him in our top 15. Darnell Mooney didn't catch any of the 4 passes thrown his way. Unfortunate, especially since he had a chance at a long touchdown but got twisted around, was barely overthrown on another, and was clearly, blatantly interfered with on a third. If you started Mooney, well, you were unlucky. It was then the Cole Kmet show, a guy I've been trying to give away in dynasty for two years now. Offers should get a little better going forward, he's had a couple of nice weeks. Those are throws Fields can reliably make.
Disappointing night for Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson. Chicago made the defensive choice to leave Logan Thomas relatively uncovered in the middle of the field, and Howell opted to keep taking those throws as time ticked off the clock. Good for Thomas and Howell fantasy-wise, not so much for Washington's wideouts and the chances of the team making up a big deficit. Curtis Samuel at least made out OK, the Washington passing game seems like those guys might kind of take turns as the top target, which won't be great for fantasy leaguers. Two different Washington running backs had as many catches as McLaurin and more than Dotson.
MISCELLANEOUS
The Washington defense has some major problems in the secondary, but their pass rush looks promising in the right matchups. (Like last night.) Chase Young is finally healthy, for now, and he was in the backfield all night. Washington had 3 sacks and could have easily had 6-7. Lots of teams will do that against Chicago, but this team still gets to face Daniel Jones twice. They'll be worth using in those weeks. Chicago does not get a boost from sacking Sam Howell 5 times, he's taking 6 per game.
Another note on the officiating. Non-calls on a couple of intentional groundings. A ridiculous non-call when Mooney got interfered with in the end zone. Swallowing the whistle on a couple of plays where Fields was being dragged down for sacks and able to get rid of it. What exactly are the officials there for if not to make calls in those situations? I get that these games are stuck on Amazon Prime which not everyone has, but it's otherwise a showcase game and the goal should be to have better officials working these contests. If these are the better officiating crews, the state of NFL officiating is worse than I imagined.
Chicago's win means there's only one winless team left, Carolina. The Panthers' next two games are at Detroit and Miami, followed by a bye to lick their likely 0-6 wounds.
As for the Bears, well, clearly they've got some viable fantasy options. And peeking at the schedule, I see their next three are against Minnesota, Las Vegas and the Chargers. Looks like a little run of production coming up for Fields, Moore, Kmet and probably Herbert, if healthy. They'll be giving up lots of points and losing a lot, too, but some nice fantasy performances for and against the Bears over the next month.