Bear Digest

The Bears Best Positioned to Do Damage to Commanders

With all of his weapons now working, Caleb Williams rates a stronger chance to come away with his first road win than against Houston and Indianapolis earlier.

Gene Chamberlain

Caleb Williams won a home game in London after two straight wins at Soldier Field. Now he's looking for road win No. 1.
Caleb Williams won a home game in London after two straight wins at Soldier Field. Now he's looking for road win No. 1. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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The Bears have yet to win a game on the road this year, which means Caleb Williams hasn't won a road game.

It's an extra factor weighing this week against the Bears rookie quarterback as he tries to extend the team's winning streak to four and his streak of hot passing to five in Washington.

Just because the Bears haven't done this with Williams doesn't mean they can't.

“We're talking about a small sample size here. Beginning of his career," coach Matt Eberflus said.

After all, it's been only two road games and they were in Weeks 2 and 3. Much has changed the past three games as Williams has learned the offense and incorporated teammates into the passing attack. The running game has come to life as well.

"I would say that he is where he is right now and he's looking to improve every single week," Eberflus added. "This week's no different. Really just overall improvement, overall quarterbacking leading the team. That's what he's going to do this week.”

Eberflus had to admit those back-to-back losses to the Texans and Colts on the road feel like a distant memory after the recent success.

“It does, it feels that way," he said. "It’s week-to-week and every week feels like it’s about four weeks. It does seem like a long time ago.

"You put in a lot of work and preparation every single week preparing for that particular opponent, getting our team ready, guys coming together who put the gameplan together. It’s a lot of work every single week and he’s a few weeks away from that now. He’s in a good spot.”

Williams' success in his hot streak has occurred as he's learned the offense and his own weapons within it. It's not the same offense that left Indianapolis in frustration. Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron has learned what works well with his group and the play calling has improved, as well.

Here are the Bears who can cause Washington the most problems in Sunday's 3:25 p.m. game at Northwest Stadium and it shouldn't be surprsing most are on offense because the Washington stregnth is when it has the ball.

1. QB Caleb Williams

2. RB D'Andre Swift

Although the Commanders rank Only five teams have worse average yards per carry allowed than the Commanders' 4.9, and it's not like the Bears need to pick and choose where they send Swift because it's been porous up and down the defensive line. Losing Jonathan Allen didn't exactly help their defensive front, even if they do have former Illini Johnny Newton to fill in for him. The Commanders rank 23rd stopping runs off left tackle, 25th behind left guard, 26th up the middle, 21st over right guard and 20th behind right tackle. The best they've done is allow 4.38 yards per run behind any of those holes on the line, according to NFLGSIS.com. Swift, with patience, can be a real problem for the Commanders even with Hall of Famer Bobby Wagner playing linebacker.

3. WR DJ Moore

He did it last year with eight catches and 230 yards and three touchdowns, but he has never had problems making receptions against them. Moore averages 90.2 yards per game and 5.6 catches for five games against the Commanders, and 16.1 yards per catch. Washington has a different defense now but hasn't had enough time to fit the personnel to the scheme and is experiencing problems all over the secondary. Attacking cornerback Benjamin St-Juste is one way to repeat this success. His passer rating against is 114.3 and he has allowed three touchdown passes.

4. WR Keenan Allen

He got a taste of it in the last game but Allen is capable of so much more than the two TD passes and clutch third-down catches he made. The confidence in the new offense and new QB is building. Allen is going against Noah Igbinoghene, the slot cornerback, who has a 101.5 passer rating against and has given up two TDs, according to Stathead/Pro Football Reference. Igbinoghene gives up only 5.2 yards per target, but he does give up the catch. Allen could be the go-to guy.

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5. WR Rome Odunze

If Odunze can get the deep route and challenge Washington free safety Quan Martin, or if any of the receivers can, they could cause damage. Martin has a 118.7 passer rating against and his five completions allowed have gone for 24.2 yards per catch. A big play receiver challenging the secondary deep when there are already too many threats to cover is not what the Commanders secondary needs to see.

6. DE Montez Sweat

The Commanders have been solid blocking every line position but the Bears might find they like either tackle matchup for their top pass rusher. If he comes off the offense's left side, he'll be going against former Bears tackle Cornelius Lucas. With his fifth team now, Lucas seems to have found a home in Washington and has the best pass blocking grade for the Commanders but stopping his former teammate won't be easy. On the other side, he'd face Andrew Wylie, the former Chiefs tackle who left last year in free agency.

7. CB Jaylon Johnson

Terry McLaurin is going to get a healthy dose of the sixth-graded cornerback in the league, last year's top cornerback according to Pro Football Focus. Stathead has Johnson's passer rating against at 27.3 this year. He's given up 50% completions and 5.6 yards per completion, numbers that will benefit no offense. McLaurin did get four catches for 49 yards against the Bears last year but had only one catch for 3 yards in the first half when the Commanders fell behind 27-3.

8. T Darnell Wright

Now ranked seventh in the league in run block win rate according to ESPN, the second-year Bears right tackle will be at his best blocking for the run against Dorance Armstrong. Although Armstrong has been a pass rushing force, he is graded 98th out of 112 edge players against the run by Pro Football Focus. Wright has been coming on strong after a bit of a slow start and is also making progress as a pass blocker now. One of his better games last year and maybe his first big game came against the Commanders.

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.