Washington Commanders Taking 'Long Look' at Recent Struggles

Following the Washington Commanders' third straight loss, coach Ron Rivera acknowledged that issues on the field start with coaching.

The Washington Commanders were expected to come away with a much-needed third win of the year hosting the Chicago Bears but instead came away with a 40-20 loss.

"We did not come out and slow them down," Commanders coach Ron Rivera said following his team's third-straight loss this season. "It's something we gotta take a long look at and kind of understand why more so than anything else...It starts at the top. We've gotta do better and that's on me."

Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields (1) runs with the ball past Washington Commanders defensive end Montez Sweat (90) during the fourth quarter at FedExField / Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Washington started the year with two wins against admittedly subpar competition in the Arizona Cardinals and Denver Broncos. Even those wins required late-game stress that gave a feeling of making things harder than they had to be.

Then, in their second-straight home sellout game, the Commanders got throttled by the Buffalo Bills as neither side of the ball came out with much to be proud of in Week 3.

That was followed by a competitive, yet losing, effort against the Philadelphia Eagles who needed an overtime field goal to send Washington to 2-2.

And that performance was the catalyst for much excitement heading into Thursday night because if Washington could come three points from beating a Super Bowl team, surely it could be a Chicago team that had lost 14 straight heading into that night.

Instead, numerous explosive opportunities - three on the first drive alone - are what the Bears got to go with their first win in nearly a year.

And those explosives have become a glaring feature of the Washington offense that just last season had only given up 30 points or more twice but has now done it in four straight games.

"I think some of it is just missed opportunities," Rivera said about the explosive plays. "Sometimes it's not about going after the ball as much as it is securing the tackle. These are all things we're going to look at and talk about."

Coming into the season the question mark was supposed to sit around quarterback Sam Howell, the second-year pro and first-year starter. 

We can now argue that two of the team's three losses reside mainly at the feet of the defense that was expected to be the leader of a playoff-caliber team.

The same Commanders team that just lost to a Bears team that held the No. 1 overall pick in last year's NFL Draft and is in line to do the same in the next.