The Chicago Bears have a marquee matchup in their Week 8 game against the Washington Commanders. The top two picks of this year’s NFL Draft go at it. Here is what to watch for in the game.
Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles wanted this to happen when he set out to build the roster this past offseason. He envisioned the team playing meaningful and attractive games, and that is what is happening this week.
The Chicago Bears face the Washington Commanders in a big Week 8 battle. The marquee matchup is Caleb WIlliams going against Jayden Daniels. This is a fight between the top overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft and the second overall pick.
Both quarterbacks have been playing well. They are the front-runners for this year’s Rookie of the Year award. The football has been flying out of their arms, and they have transformed their teams into playoff contenders.
At 5-2, Daniels has the Commanders in first place in the NFC East. Meanwhile, Williams and the Chicago Bears have the misfortune of playing in the toughest division in the league, the NFC North. They own a 4-2 record and are in last place. However, they own the final playoff spot in the NFC.
There is a possibility that this big matchup does not happen. Daniels suffered a rib injury in last week’s game, He did not practice on Wednesday and his status is up in the air.
Whether Daniels is there or not, this is a big game for Williams and the Chicago Bears. After this game, they face the Arizona Cardinals and the New England Patriots. Both teams have four wins combined. The Bears could find themselves with a 7-2 record when they start playing divisional games.
The Chicago Bears are starting to get some attention now. With all the losing they had for the better part of a decade and a half, the league went forward without giving Chicago much attention. The league is stronger when the Chicago Bears are good. So far, they are showing that they are good.
Here is what we should look for in the Chicago Bears’ Week 8 matchup against the Washington Commanders.
The Bears need to win on the road
If the Chicago Bears want to be taken seriously as a playoff contender, they need to win on the road. Yes, they won the game in London. However, that was technically a home game. So far this season, they have yet to win a game. They are 0-2.
Of course, those two road games were early on, when the offense was struggling to put everything together. They did that, and now this is a much tougher team. The offensive line has improved, which helped the running game become lethal. All of that helped WIlliams become more comfortable.
The Commanders are hot at home. At 3-0, they are undefeated on their turf. Keep in mind, though, that those wins came against the New York Giants, Cleveland Browns, and Carolina Panthers. Those teams have a combined 4-17 record this season.
The Bears have to show that their early struggles were just the growing pains of having a new offense with new faces trying to get on the same page. They must have a good game on the road to show they are a serious contender and not a pretender.
Can the Bears’ defense continue their great success?
While Daniels has played well, he has yet to face a defense that is anywhere close to what the Chicago Bears have. The Bears’ defense is top-ten against both the pass and the run. It is also a turnover-causing machine. The Bears’ defense has forced a turnover in every game this season and 12 of their last 13 games. In that period, they forced 32 turnovers.
With Daniels at the helm, the Commanders protect the ball well. They rank fourth in interceptions thrown, second in total turnovers, and have the league’s fewest fumbles lost. Can the defense harass Daniels (assuming he plays) and cause him to make mistakes he has not made so far?
We must see how the Chicago Bears’ rushing attack holds up. Yes, they rank eighth against the rush. However, they gave up just 68 yards against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 6. That gave them a big boost.
The defense will face a tough running team in the Commanders. Daniels can take the ball and run effectively. He has 372 rushing yards. Washington’s leading rusher is Brian Robinson. He has 396 rushing yards. These two players make a very good duo.
Chicago’s defense ranks 20th in average yards per carry. The unit has the “bend but not break” defense. While they might give up some big plays, the Bears find a way to stop the opponent from getting key runs. They rank 11th in total rushing yards given up despite giving up a large average per run.
Will Sweat have a great homecoming?
While Poles has made a ton of great trades, perhaps the second-best (behind only the Panthers draft trade) deal he made was to acquire defensive end Montez Sweat.
The Chicago Bears struggled to get to the quarterback before Sweat came to town. As good as a secondary they had, without pressure opposing quarterbacks had all day to throw. Eventually, someone would get open and make a big play.
All that changed with Sweat’s arrival. Despite missing half the season, he finished with the most sacks on the defense (six). In fact, he also led the Commanders in sacks even after leaving mid-season. Sweat became the first player to lead two teams in sacks.
Now Sweat comes back to the team that drafted him 26th overall in 2019. He admitted that he was upset when he first found out about the trade.
I was shocked. In disbelief. I was very emotional. I was angry and probably said some things I wanted to take back. Maybe…It felt like somebody kind of gave up on you, like you aren’t good enough anymore.
Sweat feels a lot better about it now, though. He has excelled in Chicago and transformed the defensive line. Now quarterbacks are running around for their lives as Sweat and company bring the pressure. That pressure forces them to make mistakes and the great secondary makes them pay for it.
Sweat wants to show his old team that they made a mistake shipping him out of town. He wants to go after Washington’s newest star (again, if he plays). If Daniels plays, it will be tough to get him. He is an elusive runner who can use his speed to get away from tacklers.
Look for Sweat to be extra pumped up to face the Commanders.
Will Moore have another big game against Washington?
The last time the Chicago Bears played the Commanders they completely blew them away, 40-20. Wide receiver D.J. Moore had a huge game. He burned the Commanders’ secondary for 230 receiving yards on 8 catches. He also had three touchdowns.
Moore and Williams got off to a rocky start this season. It was similar to how he got off to a slow start with Justin Fields last season. They figured it out and Moore had a career game in what ended up being a career season.
Now Moore hopes to have a connection with Williams. He had 189 receiving yards and one touchdown in the first four games. In the last two games, however, he has 125 yards and two touchdowns. The hope is that he continues his upward trajectory after a big game against the Commanders.
Williams looks to show who the top rookie really is
After a slow start, critics started to go after Williams. He was under constant pressure and he tried to do too much. He also did not get much help from the running game so he felt the pressure of having the entire team’s fate on his shoulder.
Things started to click for Williams and the offense, though. The offensive line improved, which was great for the running backs and Williams. During the last three games, we have seen the offense play the way we expected from Week 1.
In WIlliams’ first three games, he had a 59.3 completion percentage and 630 yards. Of his yards, 363 of them came in one game. He had two touchdowns against four interceptions (as well as a fumble lost). People started questioning whether he would become another Chicago Bears lost quarterback (even though it was ridiculous after such a small sample size).
Then Williams turned things around in his last three games. In that period, he completed 74.1 percent of his passes for 687 yards, with seven touchdowns and just one interception.
Williams has the Chicago Bears offense humming right now, and he wants to continue to do that against the Commanders. This is a big game, something he lives for. The game was flexed to the late afternoon so it could have a bigger audience. The bigger the game the better Williams usually plays.
Williams already had a big game against last year’s Rookie of the Year, C.J. Stroud. The game was on Sunday Night Football and he had a rough game then so he wants to perform better this week.
Williams says he lives for the big games and doesn’t feel pressure. Well, this is a big game for him and the Chicago Bears. Let’s see if he performs like it is.
This article first appeared on ChiCitySports and was syndicated with permission.
