It is hard to say that a week 6 game is a must-win game for the Commanders and Bears but a loss this week would have both looking at some nearly impossible odds to make the playoffs.
The Washington Commanders come into Thursday’s game on a four-game losing streak and if more losses continue to mount could cost the current head coach of the Commanders and ex-Bears linebacker Ron Rivera his job. Here is a position-by-position breakdown of the Commanders:
Quarterback: This offseason, the Commanders made a trade to acquire quarterback Carson Wentz from the Indianapolis Colts for two-third round picks. Wentz did not have a great year in Indianapolis and the Colts were eager to unload him to another team. Washington acquired Wentz to try and help their offense which was ranked 21st in the league las season. However, the offense looks just as ineffective as last year with the Commanders failing to have 300 yards of offense in two out of the last three games and ranking 23rd in total offense coming into the game on Sunday vs the Titans.
In the last four games, the Commanders have scored a total of seventeen points in the first half. While not all the blame falls with the quarterback, he does deserve some of the blame because of his inability to be consistent and the bad starts the offense has has this year and his coach has even stated his displeasure with the play of Wentz after the loss to the Titans.
According to Pro Football Reference, Wentz is second in the league in bad throw percentage (throws that were not catchable with normal effort) and the leader is this guy that Bears fans should be familiar with. Wentz has the third most interceptions in the league and has three of the five fumbles that the Commanders have had this year. Washington has the ability to cut Wentz this off-season with incurring any dead money on their salary cap and it would appear that Washington may be in the quarterback market this off season.
Running Back: Coming into this season, the Commanders had a competition at running back to see who would be the starter between the incumbent Antonio Gibson and rookie Brian Robinson. While Gibson had career highs in rushing yards and receptions in 2021, he also led in the league in fumbles which caused Washington to bring in some competition for Gibson. The competition for the starting running back was put on hold after Robinson was shot twice during a botched car jacking on August 29. Robinson was just activated last week for the game vs the Titans and last week and had 9 carries for 22 yards.
The run game for the Commanders has been pretty pedestrian currently ranking 19th this season and only has two rushing touchdowns. The Bears have faced Aaron Jones, Saquan Barkley, and Dalvin Cook already this season and this duo is not on the level of any of those running backs.
Offensive Line: The main reason that this offense has not clicked is the abysmal play of this offensive line. Coming into the game on Sunday, the offensive line has given up 17 sacks which is the 2nd most in the NFL. The line has struggled with consistency because of the injuries and poor play. Center Chase Rouiller was placed on injured reserve after hurting his knee in the game vs Lions and is out for an extended period of time.
Right Guard Wes Schweitzer who was placed on injured reserve after sustaining a concussion and will miss this game on Thursday. Schweitzer was engaged in a competition with guard Trai Turner to see who should be the starter at right guard and Turner had started the first three games but lost the job due to poor play to Schweitzer who then got injured so Turner now becomes the starter. Turner has not been good this season and has allowed 3 sacks which is just three less than he gave up last year in Pittsburgh.
Starting right tackle Sam Cosmi has given up five sacks this year and is also on the injured list with a hand injury. Cosmi has been replaced by Saahdiq Charles who has made a total of 6 starts in three seasons. The Bears defensive line should have their way with this patchwork offensive line.
Wide Receiver: The wide receiver group has played well with four different wide receivers having a receiving touchdown this season. The leader of this group is Terry McLaurin who leads the team in receiving yards and is second in receptions. Wentz has also looked for Curtis Samuel who is having the best start in his six-year career.
He leads the team in receptions and targets and leads the team in receptions for 1st downs. The last wide receiver that has made a difference for the Commanders is rookie Johan Dotson. Dotson has scored a touchdown in three of his first four games but missed the game vs the Titans due to a hamstring injury (Editor’s Note: At the time of this writing, his status for this game is not known).
As opposed to last week when the Bears played vs the Vikings and Justin Jefferson, this team has more threats all over the field that can make plays in the passing game. This group could be a difficult group to defend on Thursday and the Bears secondary will need to be on alert.
Tight End: Logan Thomas is the starter in this group and came into the game on Sunday 10th in league in receptions by a tight end. Last year, was an injury plagued year for Thomas, he played the first four games of the season and then was placed on injured reserve for six games to recover from a knee injury and then returned for one game before being placed on injured reserve for the last five games of the 2021 season.
Even with all the injuries in 2021, Thomas still had 196 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns. The Bears ranked in the middle of the league in terms of receiving yards by tight ends and Thomas will present a challenge for the Bears defense.
Defensive Line: Overall, this defense has not been good but the defensive line has done a really good job of putting pressure on the quarterback this year. They rank in the top 10 in quarterback hits, sacks and tackles for loss. This group is led by its two defensive tackles Johnathan Allen and Daron Payne who are doing a great job of occupying blockers so that the other defender on the defensive line can make plays.
Payne and Allen have combined 5 sacks and 12 quarterbacks hits and the attention on them has allowed other players on this defensive line to make plays. On Sunday, defensive end Martez Sweat got his first three sacks of the season and overall this group had 5 sacks on the day. A key matchup to watch how the Bears interior offensive line handle these two defensive tackles.
Linebackers: This unit has been inconsistent all season with stopping the run. For example, on Sunday the Commanders held running back Derrick Henry to under 4 yards per carry and only 12 yards in the second half yet Henry had 108 rushing yards in the first half however the unit has only given up two rushing touchdowns the entire year which is tied for the 2nd fewest in the league. Earlier in the season, Coach Ron Rivera has called out starting linebacker Jamin Davis for his poor play this season against the run. However, the week before the game vs the Titans, he praised the linebacker for his improved play and “soaking up the gravy”.
Washington mostly plays two linebackers at a time and the other linebacker with Davis has been Cole Holcomb. Holcomb leads the team in tackles and had a season high 15 tackles on Sunday vs the Titans. The Bears should be able to run on this group of linebackers.
Secondary: The Commanders secondary is in complete disarray and you can point to this unit has the reason why the defense is ranked near the bottom of the league this season. In particular, the defensive backs have had issues with stopping the passing game of the teams they have faced.
During the loss to the Titans on Sunday, starting cornerback William Jackson III was benched after a touchdown drive by the Titans. Jackson states that it was because of an injury while head coach Ron Rivera stated that it was because of he decided to make a change. Coming into the game on Sunday, offenses are completing nearly 70 percent of the passes against Jackson.
However, he is not the worst defensive back on this roster that title would belong to Kendall Fuller. Fuller has allowed 319 yards this year and the average yards per reception is 19.9 yards. Every game this year, the Commanders have allowed a passing play over 40 yards and every game except two they have allowed a wide receiver to get over 100 yards. Justin Fields is coming off his best day passing this season on Sunday and will have the ability to continue to improve vs this secondary.
Kicking: Kicker Joey Slye is 10 for 11 on field goals this season and all of his field goal attempts have been from 40 plus yards. The weather on Thursday is expected to be clear but the forecast call for wind gusts up to 20 MPH so the kicking game could be affected. Punter Tress Way leads the league in most punts and has an average of 47 yards per punt which ranks 15th in the league.
The Commanders have had the worst starting position in the league for their offensive drives which also speaks to the struggles that this offense has had this season.
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