Bears vs Commanders: Takeaways from the snap counts, stats, and more

Teams on Thursday Night Football tend to play inconsistently, so it's natural that two bad and inconsistent teams, like the Chicago Bears and the Washington Commanders, stunk up Soldier Field and only managed 19 total points. The Commanders pulled out a 12 to 7 victory in a game that couldn't even outscore last Thursday's stinkfest when the Colts beat the Broncos, 12 to 9, in a game that was a weeklong NFL joke and had analysts questioning Denver every chance they got. Speaking of stinkfests and just plain surprises, if you’ve already made up your mind on whom and where to bet on the Super Bowl, it might be a good idea to see how this season develops first because things are looking pretty darn wild now…

That game is off the hook now because the Bears will wear that badge of dishonor.

Even more frustrating is the Bears put up their most offensive yards in eleven months with 392. The last time they had more was November 11, 2021, in Pittsburgh, when they had 414.

Washington put up just 214 yards of offense, was 2 of 11 on third-down tries (18.2%), and had only 14 first downs, while the Bears were 5 of 13 on third downs (38.5%), had 20 first downs but were inept in going 0-3 in the red zone.

Now let's take a closer look at the playing time breakdowns for the Bears and also some individual stats.

OFFENSE

Justin Fields admitted he left some plays on the field and was frustrated in his post-game presser about the team's inability to finish. "We always get told that we're almost there, almost there. Me personally, I'm tired of being almost there. I'm tired of being this close. I feel like I've been hearing it for so long. At the end of the day, all you can do is get back to work."

Flashes of brilliance from Fields are there at times each week, but so too are the missed layups. His inconsistency isn't helped by having one of the least talented offenses around him, but this is the hand he's been dealt.

He had 12 runs for 88 yards and passed for 190 yards on 14/27 passing with 1 TD and 1 interception, for a passer rating of 71.5. The Commanders were credited with 12 QB hits and 5 sacks.

David Montgomery ran 15 times for 67 yards and had 1 reception for 13 yards.

Khalil Herbert had 7 runs for 73 yards.

Darnell Mooney had 7 catches for 68 yards.

Dante Pettis had this fantastic TD catch among his 4 for 84.

There were a couple of dinged-up o-lineman on the night, with Teven Jenkins hobbled with something minor and Lucas Patrick evaluated for a concussion at one point, so Michael Schofield III made his Bears debut and played both guard spots for a few reps.

DEFENSE

Roquan Smith had 12 tackles, a sack, and a tackle for loss.

Nicholas Morrow added 9 tackles.

Kyler Gordon had 6 tackles and a pass defended, and Armon Watts had 6 tackles.

Eddie Jackson had 5 tackles and a forced fumble, and Jaquan Brisker had 5 tackles, 1 TFL, and a sack.

Al-Quadin Muhammad had 2 tackles and a sack.

Chicago’s defense had a few lapses, but overall they did enough. Only allowing 12 points and 214 yards is usually winning football.

SPECIAL TEAMS*

*The above image has players that only played in the third phase.

Cairo Santos made his only extra point.

Trenton Gill had 4 punts for a 46.3 yard average while placing 1 punt inside the 20.

Velus Jones Jr. muffed another punt, and head coach Matt Eberflus sounded like a change will be discussed this week.

To check out the full Bears vs Commanders box score, I find that ESPN has an easy-to-navigate site.

All statistics and snap counts are taken directly from the NFL's Game Statistic and Information System, as are the accompanying pictures.