4 Downs: Making sense of the Bears’ disheartening loss vs. Commanders
The Chicago Bears were defeated by the Washington Commanders, 12-7, on Sunday, falling to 2-4 ahead of a Week 7 prime-time matchup against the New England Patriots.
This is about as disappointing of a loss as you can get. The Bears were held scoreless in the red zone and scored just seven points against a bad Commanders team. And, for the third straight game, a fumble cost Chicago a chance at victory.
We’re breaking down the Bears’ loss to the Commanders and what it means looking ahead.
First Down: Justin Fields is in a dire situation
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Remember when we felt encouraged about Justin Fields’ development after a Week 5 loss against the Vikings? Well, it only lasted four days following a brutal showing against the Commanders, where there’s legitimate concern about Fields with a makeshift offensive line and unimpressive receiving corp.
Fields was under duress all game against Washington, where he took five sacks and was pressured 18 times. He took hit after hit in this game, where he reaggravated a left shoulder injury. Fields also has some things to clean up after this game, although we did see how special he can be with his arm and legs. The frustrating thing is it’s hard to evaluate Fields this season given the shortcomings at receiver and along the offensive line.
At this point, the hope is Fields merely survives this season before GM Ryan Poles makes the kind of moves that will make it fair to evaluate his young QB.
Second Down: Red zone offense struggles continue
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It’s hard to remember that there was a time — some three weeks ago — when the Bears had one of the better red zone offenses. But in the last three weeks, there have been concerns about the offense’s ability to convert in the red zone. Chicago scored just seven points against a bad Washington team — a 40-yard pass from Fields to Dante Pettis.
The Bears went 0-for-3 in the red zone against the Commanders, including on their final drive that fell short. All three possessions were inside Washington’s 5-yard line, and they ended with an interception and two turnover-on-downs. Any time you go inside an opponent’s 5-yard line, you should come away with points. It’s one of the many things this offense needs to correct moving forward.
Third Down: Defense puts together strong outing
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The Bears defense put together their best performance of the season against a bad Commanders offense. Although, it was wasted in a losing effort because of Chicago’s offensive struggles. Still, the Bears defense found a pass rush, they were able to stop the run and some young players stepped up in a big way.
Chicago’s defense held Washington to just two field goals until the fourth quarter when a Velus Jones muffed punt put them in a rough situation. The Commanders were gifted the ball on the Chicago 6-yard line, and two plays later, they punched it in for their lone touchdown. The Bears sacked Carson Wentz three times, and they held him under 100 passing yards. They also held the Commanders to 128 rushing yards, which is certainly progress for one of the worst run defenses.
Rookies Kyler Gordon and Jaquan Brisker had strong outings for the Bears, and you can see that they’re getting better with each game. Gordon had six tackles and a pass breakup while Brisker had five tackles, a tackle for loss and a sack.
Fourth Down: Another muffed punt for Velus Jones
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It’s been a rough start for rookie Velus Jones Jr. After missing the first three games of the season with a hamstring injury, Jones hasn’t made a solid impression. While he’s been solid in his limited reps on offense — including scoring his first touchdown on his first NFL catch last week — he’s made some costly mistakes on special teams.
Jones has muffed two punts in the last three games, including in Thursday night’s loss. With eight minutes left — and Chicago nursing a 7-6 lead — Jones muffed a punt deep in his own terriority, and it was recovered by the Commanders. It proved costly as the Bears defense was put in an impossible situation to defend on their own 6-yard line, and Washington scored the go-ahead touchdown. Jones was taken off return duties right after.
We’ll see if the Bears choose to stick with Jones moving forward — which is what Matt Eberflus has done with Kyler Gordon, Jaquan Brisker and Braxton Jones as they’ve struggled.
Extra Point: Bears have time for evaluation following mini-bye week
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Following their Thursday night loss, the Bears have a mini-bye week before their Week 7 matchup against the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football.
Bears coach Matt Eberflus will have 11 days to evaluate where this team is at through six games, and he teased potential changes with the starting lineup.
“We’re spending time during this mini-bye to evaluate each guy first,” Eberflus said, via ChicagoBears.com. “We come up with three things they’re doing well right now and three things they need to improve on, and the plan for each guy fundamentally to improve on that. That’s a very important piece for us to grow as a football team.
“So we’re gonna do that coming up this weekend and then look at scheme, look at offensive scheme, defensive scheme and special teams. The exact same thing, things we’re doing well, things we need to improve on and how we’re gonna go about that, that’s an important thing. And then we’re gonna look at the lineups, where people are, are we putting guys in a position to succeed, is there anything that can create competition at any position on the football team? That’s healthy for us, to be able to do that going forward. That’s gonna be a big part of that as well. We are improving. We’re looking to improve. We’re gonna have a plan to improve, and we’re gonna get better throughout the course of the season.”
Some potential changes include at kick returner with Velus Jones Jr., wide receiver (with N’Keal Harry making his Bears debut) and along the offensive line (where Alex Leatherwood could be activated from IR).
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