Bear Digest

Jayden Daniels' Health In Question for Bears-Commanders Game

A rib injury knocked Washington's rookie QB out of Sunday's rout of Carolina early and could keep the draft's No. 2 pick from facing No. 1 pick Caleb Williams and the Bears.

Gene Chamberlain

Jayden Daniels is anything but happy after a rib injury forced him to leave Sunday's win over Carolina after the first drive.
Jayden Daniels is anything but happy after a rib injury forced him to leave Sunday's win over Carolina after the first drive. / Amber Searls-Imagn Images
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The big showdown between No. 1 and No. 2 in the draft could be in question.

It would appear it doesn't matter to the Washington Commanders, anyway.

The Commanders crushed the Carolina Panthers 40-7 but did it almost entirely without quarterback Jayden Daniels due to a rib injury suffered on Washington's first offensive possession.

The battle between Bears QB Caleb Williams and Daniels is next week and the hype has been building for it for several weeks, or at least since Williams' productivity within the Bears offense increased enough for the anticipation to increase.

After the game, coach Dan Quinn told reporters he didn't have an update on the injury.

“He’ll get more testing done tomorrow," Quinn added.

Daniels made a cut trying to run, went down to the turf and reached down but at his abdomen and not his leg. The injury was reported as ribs.

Daniels had completed two pass attempts for 3 yards each and ran three times for 50 yards before he left. Daniels broke his first run 46 yards and finished the first drive with a 3-yard completion even after the injury. 

Daniels wanted to play and was examined on the sideline. He tried to throw a bit there and later threw his helmet down in disgust. He never returned and was ruled out for the remainder of the game by the team.

Daniels returned to the sidelines without returning to the game and was met with a round of applause. He was smiling at the time.

In the meantime, backup Marcus Mariota came in and lit it up in Kliff Kingsbury's Washington offense.

Mariota completed 18 of 23 for 205 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 34 yards.

Daniels entered Sunday's game with a passer rating of 107.1, a league-best 75.3% completions, six TD passes and two intereptions. He has now thrown for 1,410 yards this year on 127-of-168.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.