While last year the Washington Commanders defeated the Chicago Bears in an 18-15 Hail Mary win, the Oct. 13 Monday Night Football game between the two teams turned into another nail-biting showdown at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland.
In Bears quarterback Caleb Williams’ return to the DMV, Chicago was victorious with a 38-yard field goal as time expired, defeating the Commanders on their home turf with a Hail Mary revenge.
Check out three takeaways from the Commanders’ 25-24 loss against the Chicago Bears:
- Turnovers, Missed Tackles Cost Washington the Game
As the Washington Commanders aimed to run out the clock, an exchange of fumbles between quarterback Jayden Daniels and running back Jacory “Bill” Croskey-Merritt midfield — with just about three minutes left remaining — gave Chicago a scoring opportunity.
“I just lost the ball— completely my fault. I didn’t give Bill a chance, so it was my fault,” said Daniels.
At that point, it was Washington’s third turnover of the night.
The Bears managed to move upfield 36 yards in eight plays, with running back D’Andre Swift on the drive moving the ball forward five times for 34 yards to set Jake Moody’s 38-yard field goal to win the game.
“Honestly, it wasn’t just that play, like there’s plenty in there to go and…. we just didn’t regard it like we can,” said Commanders Head Coach Dan Quinn. “And so that’s the lesson and it stings and we’ve got to grow from them.”
The Bears took advantage of all three turnovers, scoring 13 points.
Although turnovers remained a huge factor in the game’s outcome, missed tackles were also proven to be costly for Washington.
Just after the Commanders took the lead 24-16 in the fourth quarter, safety Quan Martin missed a tackle on Swift allowing the running back to score a 55-yard touchdown. Martin had Swift near the sideline and could have just forced him out of bounds.
“Yeah, it’s an unfortunate one,” Quinn said. “[Martin] is somebody that we’d absolutely count on in that spot and also give credit to Swift.”
The Commanders have recorded a significant number of missed tackles so far this season, accumulating 46 after week six against the Bears. This unfortunately puts Washington among the league leaders in this category, as 41 missed tackles were recorded in early October.
The turnovers and missed tackles proved to have cost the Commanders that game, who are 3-3 on the season so far, taking away their chance to tie for first place in the NFC East Division with the Philadelphia Eagles, who have lost two straight games.
Washington has yet to win consecutive games this season.
Although Quinn emphasized a fast start against Chicago, Washington must go back to the drawing board and work on their mistakes.
“A short week helps when you lose. You know, you get to get back to the drawing board, you get back to the game faster,” said linebacker Bobby Wagner. “The game comes a little bit faster. You win, and you move on. So, that’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to go back. We’ve got to see the mistakes we made. We’ve got to figure out how to get better. We’ve got to figure out how to create turnovers. And, you know, we’ll get it figured out.”
- The Run Game Was Practically Quiet Against the Bears
The Commanders are known this season to have one of the league’s best rushing attacks, while the Bears have one of the worst rushing defenses.
However, it was hard to tell in this game.
Although Daniels recorded 52 yards on the ground, the other ball carriers only recorded 72 yards on 21 carries.
While many pressured Kliff Kingsbury on utilizing the run game in the previous matchup, against the Bears, the run game remained quiet as Washington managed to move upfield in other ways.
“We just have to be better at what we do,” said running back Croskey-Merritt. “We’ll come back next week and be ready to play.”
- Jayden Daniels Hasn’t Lost His Touch
Although Daniels recorded two turnovers for Washington, the second-year quarterback hasn’t lost his touch at all.
With wide receivers Terry McLaurin and Noah Brown ruled out against the Bears due to injuries,
Deebo Samuel staggering off the field triggering a lingering heel injury, and with fumbles that arose in the run game, Daniels still found a way to score.
The quarterback started Washington’s scoring effect, heaving a deep 22-yard touchdown wide receiver Chris Moore sending shockwaves through Northwest Stadium.
He then managed to find wide receiver Luke McCaffrey for a 33-yard touchdown, which sparked a flame in Washington’s offense giving them the lead for the first time in the game before the 2-minute warning in the third quarter.
“I’m doing my job, but I was happy that we called it,” said McCaffrey. “We’d had that one in the bag for a couple of weeks, so it was nice.”
Daniels then connected with rookie Jaylin Lane on a 37 yard touchdown pass, followed by a 6 yard scoring strike to tight end Zach Ertz.
“I was surprised. It’s an area that we obviously spend a lot of time on, a lot of space, and we’ll continue to do that,” said Quinn. “But I’ll give credit to Chicago, they outperformed us tonight and that stinks.”
The Commanders will look to bounce back as they return to action in week seven, heading to the Lone Star State of Texas to take on NFC East rival Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Kickoff is set for 4:25 p.m. E.T. on Sunday, Oct. 19.
