When the Chicago Bears take on the Washington Commanders many fans are seeing a chance for Justin Fields to get himself on the right track. He just played his best game in the new offense on Sunday, and now he gets a secondary that just benched William Jackson, plus has Kendall Fuller as one of the league’s leaders in yards allowed.
Teams have been able to hit deep passes against Washington all season, so Justin Fields could be seeing the right team at the right time, and it could lead to his best game. The one thing standing in the way is the Washington Commanders’ defensive line.
Chicago Bears must slow down Washington Commanders’ pass rush
If the Washington Commanders have a strength it is their pass rush. They rank fifth in the NFL in the amount of pressure they generate, and most of it comes from their three first-round picks.
Montez Sweat, Jonathan Allen, and DaRon Payne have all lived up to their draft pedigree. Sweat ranks 16th amongst edge rushers in pressures, while Allen and Payne are top 10 in the defensive line pressure rankings.
This is going to be no easy task for the Chicago Bears.
Sweat is going to take on Braxton Jones, which should be a win for Sweat. Jones has done okay but often gets help. Beyond that, he opened the season with a wet track, then faced Preston Smith, the weaker of the two between Smith and Rashan Gary. He held his own against Jerry Hughes, and but allowed a sack to Azeez Ojulari.
Last week, he played the best game of his career and saw plenty of Za’Darius Smith and Danielle Hunter. Aside from those two, Sweat is going to be the biggest name with the best chance to expose Jones. The Titans had a backup left tackle last week, and Sweat took his time abusing the easier matchup. The same could show up this week.
Jonathan Allen will often line up over Lucas Patrick and DaRon Payne will line up over Teven Jenkins. Still, the Washington Commanders do a great job of rushing five, which often allows one of the two to kick inside and rush against the center, as a blitzer takes on the guard. If they blitz at Jenkins and slide Payne inside over Sam Mustipher it is going to be a problem,
The Chicago Bears right tackle gets a combination of James Smith-Williams and Efe Obada. The reality for Larry Borom is that he has to win that matchup without any help because the other four linemen are going to be swimming upstream.
The Commanders are still not a good football, and other offenses have found ways to pass on them. However, because the Chicago Bears offensive line is not quite up to standards, it is still going to be a tougher matchup for them than for some teams.