Bears and Commanders In-Game Blog: Commanders 12, Bears 7 4th

Reporting and live analysis as the Chicago Bears and Caleb Williams try to run their winning streak to four straight by beating the Washington Commanders,

Caleb Williams first down against the Commanders.pump fakes and scrambles but is stopped short of a first down. / Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Fourth Quarter

That's worse than when Waldron called a fourth-down option pitchout from a foot away against the Colts.

• Waldron has to be out of his freakin' mind. Runs a fullback dive at the 1 on third down to center Doug Kramer, who fumbles it away, of course.

• Williams Mahomesed it and threw sidearmed to the 1 to DeAndre Carter.

• Swift gets a yard on first down to the 8.

• A timeout with the Bears first-and-goal after Moore's big catch. He goes into the tent.

• DJ with a tough 29-yard catch along the sidelines as Williams is hit throwing but Moore appears hurt.

• Cole Kmet with a catch inside the 35 but DJ Moore got stacked up on an end around for a 2-yard loss.

• Bill Murray was in for injured Jenkins but went out as Jenkins comes back in.

• Swift straight up the middle for 7 and they go no-huddle. Then he hurdles a tackler up the middle and runs all the way to midfield with a scrum.

• Lots of yards and no points for the Commanders. No yards and no points for the Bears.

• Josh Blackwell nearly with a sack but Daniels with a spectacular last-second leap to avoid it, but they blitz him into an incompletion on third down and the Bears get it back on a punt at the 15.

• A pair of completions put it at the 44. Bears defense needs another big play.

• A 4-yard run and incompletion and Commanders facing third-and-6 from their own 9.

• A coffin corner from Taylor. The man is a master. At the 5.

• Three-and-out in a pathetic way. Third-down blitz got Williams to throw it away. Now Teven Jenkins is hurt. Limping off the field a bit.

• Kick wasn't blocked. Was just a pathetic attempt by Seibert, who hasn't been allowed to kick from 50 and longer often. Now it's apparent why. A fat shot.

• After a false start, a check down gets back 8 and Commanders face third-and-7 and Daniels throws high, so Seibert with a 51-yard field goal and it's blocked by Gervon Dexter, who is back in the game.

• Deep ball well defended this time by Stevenson as they tried to pick on him after the penalty. Incomplete.

Third Quarter

• McLaurin with a catch to midfield with nine seconds left in the quarter and a personal foul on Tyrique Stevenson. Quarter ends with the Commanders at the Bears 35.

• Sweat is coming for Daniels on first down and he throws it away.

• A bolt of lightning. Swift 56 yards around left end for the TD. Amegadjie's side. Some good blocking going on there. Commanders 12, Bears 7

• Williams' 3-yard bootleg to Gerald Everett. Could have had 5 to 7 if he threw it quicker.

• Darrell Taylor with the near sack forces an incompletion to Ertz and they'll punt from inside their own 20.

• Two runs leave Commanders facing third-and-3 with two minutes left in the third quarter.

• The defense can only play for so long by being on the field this long. Williams is 3 of 12 for 33 yards in the middle of the third quarter. Quinn's defense has him befuddled.

• Williams overthrows Allen on third-and-long and it's another punt. The Bears should just fast forward to Week 9.

• Teven Jenkins called for false start but they could have called three people for that one.

• DJ Moore for the first down catch but Darnell Wright was lined up too deep. So it's third-and-7.

• After wide receiver screen to Odunze picks up the first down, they toss it left and Amegjadie throws a good block but Swift wasted the blocking and got 8 when he should have had 11 or 12.

• Carter brings it back to the 31. Another drive starts but Amegadjie is still out there. Williams scrambles for 8 but he had Swift wide open for that much and could have made it easy on himself.

• This is the kind of game when I was a kid my father and grandfather would be watching it and I'd look at them and both would be sound asleep and snoring in their recliner or chair. Bears have put everyone to sleep.

• Sweat with the 4.42-second speed tracks down Daniels and gets a sack. So Washington's Seibert trying a 47-yarder. Commanders 12, Bears 0

• After a swing pass to Ekeler for 5 yards, the Commanders face third-and-2 at the 22. Then confusion on Washington's part and also on the part of the Bears, so the Commanders burn a timeout.

• Daniels barely beats Edwards blitz with a first-down throw at the 30 to Ertz. Well defended and well executed.

• WR screen for a TD on third-and-1 after the Bears pass rush let Daniels scramble for 13 yards. But an illegal man downfield wipes it all out. No doubt on the penalty.

• Good thing they left Daniel Hardy active this week. He got called for unnecessary roughness on the fair caught punt and Washington sets up in Bears territory. More blunders by the Bears, who are still on bye.

• Williams nearly sacked for a safety on second down. Then on third-and-7, Allen and Williams didn't have the back shoulder timing down. Good throw by Williams on back shoulder but Allen should have turned before he did.

• Way drops a wedge down at the 3 and the Bears are backed up to start the second half.

• Drive goes inside the Bears 35 but a sack by T.J. Edward sets up third-and-11 at the 34 and on third down a botched snap with illegal motion and Daniels is smeared behind the line, leaving Washington in a situation where it needs to punt.

Second Quarter

• The defense does its usual let them catch passes near the end of the half and they are at the 40 with no timeouts left. But they get it to the Bears 49 with 8 seconds left. The Bears are flirting with disaster. A Hail Mary coming with three seconds left. They just run it and run the clock out. Bears just played their worst half since the opener. Even the Houston game was better. Williams was bad, Shane Waldron's play calling horrendous, Eberflus bad decision on fourth down and also for not calling for a replay to get a better spot before going for it. And the offensive line was horrendous. Other than that, it was fine.

• At halfitme they better think about putting Pryor at left tackle and then putting Bill Murray in at guard.

• Officials should have flagged a delay of game penalty against the Commanders for calling a fair catch and then trying to run with it afterward. Missed that one too.

• After an incompletion deep to Allen, Williams tries to scramble away from a sack caused by Amegadjie and officials don't blow the whistle, they let him keep going and then he's knocked out of field goal range. He should have thrown it away but more importantly, that should have been blown dead at the 35. The Bears had that same play go the other way against the Colts. Another Taylor punt inside the 10.

• Bears from the Commanders 23 on first down after the scramble but a TFL as all the blocking broke down. Amegadjie totally messed up his block attempt.

• Williams scrambles, slides gets hit high after a short gain. No call. The Justin Fields tradition lives. TWO-MINUTE WARNING!!!

• Runs by DJ Moore and Swift net a first down, then Odunze a 9-yard end around. Braxton Jones is out with an injury and Kiran Amegadjie is in.

• Williams beats the blitz to Rome Odunze at midfield. Then Odunze is knocked to the ground after he stepped out of bounds but no call.

• It's third-and-5 and Bears have to use a timeout. This one has all the stamp of Shane Waldron's paralysis through overanalysis. He had two weeks to look at it all and came up with a game plan they can't execute.

• A 2-yard run up the middle and then Williams scrambles and Luvu slams him down after a short gain. He was looking to throw it in the open field but no one was open.

• Defense cleaned up Matt Eberflus' mess after a stupid decision and they're more than a TD down now.

• Play stands as called and Seibert's third chipper goes through. Commanders 9, Bears 0

• Ekeler's run leaves it at third-and-4. Ertz gets the ball stripped by Tyrique Stevenson. The play is being reviewed because they think it was in possession after he hit the ground. It's hard to say one way or the other. But that never seems to stop anyone for overturning something in this league.

• Wylie seems all right and Daniels scrambles to the 29. Bears got called for defensive holding, though. Elijah Hicks held Terry McLaurin. First down at the 15.

• On a dropped first-down pass, Commanders tackle Andrew Wylie is injured.

• Nick Allegretti was downfield illegally on a wide receiver screen inside the 10 so the Commanders are backed up facing first-and15 at the Bears 33.

• Swift doesn't get it and the Bears try a wide receiver screen to DJ Moore on fourth down, a terrible gamble from their own 40 in need of a full yard. They should have punted. Moore smashed down for a 1-yard loss and Washington has it at the Bears 39.

• Another wild scramble from Williams and he nearly gets the first down. Third-and-2.

• So much for the good blocking. Williams sacked on first down.

• Williams changes something up at the line on first down and Swift bolts for 6. Nice, hard run with good blocking, then another hard run for 6 more and a first down at the Bears 3.

• Tress Way, once and very briefly a Bears punter, puts one out of bounds but not too deep and Bears have it back trying to show they actually have brought their offense along on the trip.

• Scary Terry doesn't get open. Daniels underthrows McLaurin with Terell Smith in tow.

• Sweat out of lineup but comes back on for third-and-6.

• Bootleg pass for 20 on first down as Kevin Byard got trampled trying to make the tackle.

• Another punt inside the 20 but what good does it do if they're going to let the Commanders out of the hole like they did last time?

• Williams scrambles for 1 yard and they have to punt. He had plenty of time to get the first down but was running in circles and ran himself into the ground. He looks like he did against Houston and in the first half against Indy.

First Quarter

• Finally they get serious about running it and let Swift go for 5 around end, then 3 off left guard as the quarter ends. Another terrible Bears first quarter. One day they'll figure out the games' starting times.

• It would be easy to say the Bears can feel good about allowing no touchdowns on those drives but let's face it, they looked terrible by giving up a 61-yard pass and the offense is looking jittery and penalty prone.

• Austin Ekeler with a rare drop at the 5. Tremaine Edmunds was there waiting to get the tackle but Quinn might have been tempted to go for it from there. A 28-yard field goal. Commanders 6, Bears 0

• After Dan Quinn had something simple explained to him and took forever to figure it out, the Commanders got nothing on first-and-goal from the 12 on a run and then Daniels got flushed out and threw it away to avoid a sack.

• Byron Cowart gets caught running off the field but the Commanders committed a false start before the snap. There was no play so the 12th player couldn;t have been a penalty.

• Robinson picks up the first down at the Bears 7 on a run off left guard.

• Tyrique Stevenson burned for a 61-yard throw too Bears 19.

• T.J. Edwards got burned by Daniels' fake in the open field on a scramble and he picked up the first down.

• Chris Williams in at DT this drive without Dexter there. They stuff the first run and then Dexter throws wild so its third-and-8.

• Can't really see why Williams is antsy other than he's playing in his home town. The Commanders haven't come out blitzing him or anything.

CW needs to settle down, too tight right now

— Greg Gabriel (@ggabefootball) October 27, 2024

• Williams looks like he's too jacked up. He overthrew two people again that drive and they punted, with Taylor pinning the Commanders back inside the 10. He looked out of sorts on the first possession, too. On that one he had no time on the sack but in the second drive if he just set his feet and took his time to throw he had a first down even after the penalty Jones had.

• A 13-yard QB draw by Williams, followed by a throw over the middle to Keenan Williams on a slant to the 41 of Washington.

• Bears start at their 29. Williams had two open receivers and didn't hit either one. He had Rome Odunze wide open.

• Sweat with a good hit on Daniels forces an incompletion and the Commanders settle for a 22-yard Austin Seibert field goal.

• Byron Coward with a TFL for a 2-yard loss replacing Dexter and sets up third-and-3

• Not the week to have Dexter get hurt. Because they're going light on defensive tackle today. They left Zacch Pickens inactive. Bad move.

• Bears look like a team with the bye week hangover. I expected this from the offense because Shane Waldron's teams in Seattle were 0-3 after byes, without scoring in one game and getting 13 in another. But their defense looks like they think it's still bye week.

• Sweat off the field now with the ball at the 35. Robinson runs right past where Sweat would be for 19, then gets 10 up the middle to the Bears 5. Gervon Dexter injured on the run by Robinson to the 5.

• A throw for the first down to Zach Ertz and then Daniels pulls it back on zone read and skirts around Montez Sweat for a first down at the Bears 41.

• Washington at its 36 after recocering a fumble on the punt. They lucked out as the ball went right to one of their blockers.

• DJ Moore drops one in the open field when he had a chance at the first down on third-and-20. Williams threw it behind him while on the run to his left. Bears punt and Tory Taylor bombs one.

• Johnny Newton with the sack of Williams on second down after he bobbled the snap, and then they get a presnap penalty for delay of game. A total disaster at the start for the Bears.

• Bears start at their 30 and D'Andre Swift is stood up and knocked down for a 1-yard gain up the middle. The middle is where teams have attacked Washington the most.

• Bears receiving.

Pregame

• The reports were true and Jayden Daniels is starting. Now the question will be whether he can hold up to some big hits if he's running and his ribs are exposed. The Bears have given up 58 yards to scrambles this year, only 78 yards overall rushing to quarterbacks.

Jayden Daniels arrives.

(via:@BenStandig) pic.twitter.com/2NgxY5H7XM

— brandon (@JayDanielsMVP) October 27, 2024

• The jersey sales people won't like this but it's exactly what a lot of fans want in this age of free agency and jersey sales. If you go to a Bears game you'll notice almost all the jerseys are players gone, retired or long retired. In this age of free agency this is a good idea in this tweet.

How I turned my Justin Fields jersey into a Jaylon Johnson jersey! pic.twitter.com/TnpRQpTfPu

— Six Point Sports (@SixPointSports) October 26, 2024

• If making Khalil Herbert inactive is because he'll be traded, Ryan Poles is leaving himself open to plenty of second-guessing because Travis Homer has never been a No. 1 or even No. 2 back in the NFL and if they were to lose D'Andre Swift and/or Roschon Johnson they'd be asking a lot of a player who just got off IR and hasn't really been in this key role before. Herbert has been a starter and a No. 2 throughout his career. They'd be better off just keeping him for insurance this year unless they can get a fourth-rounder or better because sixth-round and seventh-round pick are not going to mean too much to a team on the verge of being a contender. That's the kind of trade compensation teams want in their first and/or second year of a rebuild.

1 min of new #Bears RB Travis Homer picking up blitzes. pic.twitter.com/KlTXwuwPYm

— Josh DeLuca (@JoshDeLuca4) March 16, 2023

• 
  Ian Rapoport reported Myles Garrett is not being traded, and earlier Mark Davis had been quoted saying he's not trading Maxx Crosby so Bears fans can forget about getting one of those two edge rushers at the trading deadline.
  

Twitter: BearsOnSI