Standing at 0-4, the Chicago Bears will take on the Washington Commanders. The Commanders are 2-2, so they are not a powerhouse, and they may be a team that the Bears can compete with. They have been down to the final drive in two of their four games this season. With that in mind, what are some things we must know if the Bears plan to win this game?
10. Can D.J. Moore continue his dominance against the Washington Commanders secondary?
D.J. Moore has been really good this season. What is more impressive than his start on paper is who he did it against. Moore has had to face off with Patrick Surtain, Jaire Alexander, and L'Jarius Sneed in three of his four games. He found success against the Bucs with the aid of Carlton Davis being injured.
So, as he gets ready to square off against the Commanders secondary, there are some reasons to think that he may be having his best game yet. The Commanders secondary has issues. Kendall Fuller is fine but is not capable of handling a higher-end wide receiver like Moore.
When Moore is matched up against Emmanuel Forbes, it should be an automatic call out to throw him the ball. A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith took Forbes to school, but they were not the first this season, As Forbes is in the top five in yards allowed as a rookie cornerback. Moore has advantages everywhere, and that only happened once against Tampa Bay. He should produce in the same manner, if not greater this week.
9. Can DeMarcus Walker win a plus-matchup for the Chicago Bears?
The Chicago Bears need more from DeMarcus Walker. It is almost unfair to Walker because the Bears are asking him to do too much. They are asking him to play about twice as many snaps this year than he was last year, and he is on pace to play more than ever in his career. He was signed to be a part-time player but also to play early downs on the outside, then slide inside to rush the passer.
However, after spending over 33% of his snaps along the interior during the past four years, he only had 12% of his snaps on the inside so far this season. So, the Bears are using him more than he is used to, and not in the manner he is best. No wonder he is not having a good year.
Still, the Chicago Bears have to rely on him this week. Andrew Wylie has been an issue all season. He allows multiple pressures per week and has three penalties in four weeks, per PFF. The Bears have to win this matchup to have any semblance of defense showing up this week.
8. Will the Chicago Bears offensive line withstand the Washington Commanders defensive line?
The matchups that will decide the game are the Chicago Bears' big men upfront on offense against the four former first-round picks on the Washington Commanders' defensive front. We know that Washington wins this group.
Chase Young will be taking on Larry Borom, and Montez Sweat will be working on Darnell Wright. This actually is the type of player that Wright is known to do well against, but Sweat is one of the best in the NFL, so the test will be fun. Young should have a matchup advantage over Borom, though.
On the inside, it will be Jonathan Allen against Cody Whitehair and Da'Ron Payne against Nate Davis for most of the night. Davis started to play better against the Broncos and got some of the rust off from missing time. Still, this is a massive test. Whitehair has not been good this year and will need to step up.
This group can pass rush with the best of them, but they give up holes in the run game. Can the Bears stay ahead of the chains to keep this group from pinning their ears back?
7. Will the Chicago Bears have a rest advantage over the Washington Commanders?
The Chicago Bears are on the road on a short week, which usually would put the team at a disadvantage. However, the Bears could be in a decent spot because Washington ended up playing an overtime game that went down to the very end. Yes, the Bears also played a back-and-forth game, but the Denver Broncos also played at a slower pace, so the defense was spared a lot more.
The Commanders defense played 71 snaps, and the Bears defense played 48 snaps. For the game, the Commanders played 149 snaps, while the Bears played just 120. Beyond that, the Commanders lost a crushing division that they were all the way invested in.
The Chicago Bears will come in motivated, and they come in with a more rested defense. The Commanders come in trying to get the energy up for a 0-4 team after just going all-in and losing in a tiring back-and-forth game against an undefeated unit. There is a chance that the Commanders will come out flat here, and the Bears could take advantage.
6. Can Cole Kmet shake free from Kamren Curl?
The Washington Commanders have holes in their secondary. It will set up for a big game for D.J. Moore, but the Bears need someone else to make a play. They have used Cole Kmet as their second receiver in most scenarios, but this week, he is a tougher spot.
The Washington Commanders often deploy Kamre Curl as their tight-end defender. So far this year, there have not been many tight ends with success against Washington. Denver and Arizona do not have big names, but neither Dawson Knox nor Dalton Kincaid were seen when Washington played the Bills, and Dallas Goedert was held in check.
To be fair, Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis, along with A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith, were more than enough to dominate the Commanders. Still, the tight end was held in check. For the Bears, Moore can have a big game, then who? They need one of Darnell Mooney or Equainemous St. Brown to step. Why not try to throw it deep to Tyler Scott once? That is what the Bears need.
5. Will the Chicago Bears start Duron Harmon?
The Chicago Bears poached Duron Harmon from the Baltimore Ravens practice squad. That means that the team has to keep him active for the next couple of weeks, or he will revert back to Baltimore. The Ravens have injuries in their secondary, and Harmon has to know that. He has to know that he signed with the Bears because they are in a worse spot than the Ravens, and he thinks he can get on the field sooner for the Chicago Bears. This may be true.
The Bears have tried to use Elijah Hicks to start in place of Eddie Jackson. It went fine for a week, but the Denver Broncos hit too many deep balls over him. His failed coverage led to a Marvin Mims catch that set up the game-winning field goal.
Hicks is a seventh-round pick without much invested in him. He had a shot; now the Bears need to try to win. This could mean starting Harmon. This also could mean that Eddie Jackson will not be back soon. If they thought he would, would they have signed Duron Harmon? Or will Harmon just play special teams?
4. Is the Chicago Bears run defense in trouble?
The Chicago Bears run defense is bad, and we all know it. What is surprising is that the Washington Commanders rushing attack is pretty solid. As a team, Washington ranks 7th in success rate and 10th in Expected Points Added, per RBSDM. Meanwhile, the Bears are a respectable 15th in success rate and just 23rd in Expected Points Added.
Brian Robinson has eight rush attempts that went for 10 yards or more. That is tied for 4th in the NFL right now with big-play hitters like James Cook, Raheem Mostert, and Isaiah Pachecho. Sam Howell has 11 rushing attempts, and he has picked up five first downs with his legs.
Some of it is that the players are performing; a lot of it comes back to Eric Bienemy. It is clear he knows how to set up a run game, as that was his role before the offensive coordinator seat. Meanwhile, Matt Eberflus is trying to do two different jobs at once for the Chicago Bears. The Bears will be out-schemed when the defense is on the field, and we can only hope the run game is contained.
3. Can the Chicago Bears make the Washington Commanders pay with Justin Fields rushes?
The Washington Commanders pass rush is nice, but their first-round picks are still not gap-sound. It leads to bigger runs but also quarterback scrambles. The Commanders have played against Russell Wilson, Josh Allen, and Jalen Hurts, but all three have been able to break the contain at some point and put the Commanders linebackers in conflict.
The Commanders' linebackers are a big reason their defense is not good. Jamin Davis was a first-round pick who is not living up to that billing. He is the WILL to Cody Barton, who calls the plays up front. However, he is a tick slow, and those quicker quarterbacks and running backs get away from him too easily.
Justin Fields did well staying in the pocket to make passes against a bad Denver defensive front, but even the Broncos got a few big hits in. Fields needs to know this pass rush will hurt him and get out there and run. He could put up 100 yards rushing this week if he wanted to.
2. Will Khalil Herbert hit a big run for the Chicago Bears?
If you recall the Commanders game last year, the offense started to find life in this Thursday Night clash. One thing that aided that spark was Khalil Herbert, who has seven rushes for 77 yards, and that was aided by a 63-yard rushing attempt. In the same way that Justin Fields can get loose to the outside, so can Khalil Herbert.
The Commanders are not gap-sound, and they have one linebacker who is fast but slow to process and one linebacker who is fast to process but slow. Between this and the Chicago Bears' improving run game, there is a chance that Herbert will play well this week. It started to look like Herbert was winning the three-down role last week, and he has made big strides in the passing game. Does that continue this week, and if it does, do the Bears have their three-down back? It feel like this wil get more definitive after this week.
1. Can the Chicago Bears secondary slow down the Washington Commanders wide outs?
The Chicago Bears secondary is coming into the game with major injuries across the board. Both safeties may be out this week, and the only week one starter at cornerback will be Tyrique Stevenson, the rookie. So, Stevenson has to square off with Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson, and Curtis Samuel.
Terell Smith will join Stevenson on the outside, and Greg Stroman will get another start in the slot. Teams have been picking on the linebackers so much that the corners were spared last week, but Smith has been up and down to start his career despite a strong first start. This will be a big test, and Washington will come at him.
McLaurin plays solely outside, but Dotson and Samuel will take time in the slot against Stroman. Washington appears to have a lot of advantages on the offensive side, but the Bears do, too. We will see how this game plays out.