Offense
- The Bears definitely didn’t come out ready to play on offense. Pretty much everyone of the field was a step behind the Commanders players. It reminded me of the start of almost every Packers game under the current coaching regime.
- Caleb Williams really just looked off from the beginning of this game. He was as inaccurate as we have ever seen, missing some relatively easy throws.
- Interesting that the Bears started to put a full back into the backfield and simply tried to get the run game with some power football. They were supplementing it with plenty of off tackle runs. D’Andre Swift seems to be pretty good at breaking tackles when he’s coming at them from that sort of an angle.
- There are two ways to try to get to a young quarterback. You can blitz him or you can rush four and drop the world into coverage. The Commanders chose the latter a lot of the time and it totally discombobulated Williams.
- In addition, the offensive line wasn’t good enough to provide him the protection that he needed to find an open man for more than an instant. The Commanders dominated them in pass protection.
- Well, those who were clamoring Kiran Amegadjie got their wish. That’s what it looks like when you are a rookie who misses all of training camp and you are thrown into the fire.
Defense
- The Commanders came out running the ball well. It was essentially a mirror image of the Bears own game plan. They ran the ball 6 times for 7.3 yards per carry on the first drive. It was fairly obvious that the Bears were going to be challenged to stop it.
- To their credit, the Bears did clamp down on the run. But it definitely opened up the pass. And though you definitely don’t want either to be open, I can understand their choice. The Commanders in the air, though dangerous, are less dangerous than the Commanders on the ground.
- The Bears were trying to cover Terry McLaurin with Tyreek Stevenson in tight man with single high safety help. Whenever Jayden Daniels saw that, the ball was going to McLaurin. The safety some times struggled to get over in time.
- The Bears really struggled to contain Daniels within the pocket. The pass rush was disciplined enough but Daniels was to elusive to keep up with.
- I don’t think that I have to say it anymore because its so obvious. But the Commanders were picking on Stevenson.
Miscellaneous
- Jim Nance and Tony Romo dud a great job as usual. The quality of the analysis just out strips everyone when these guys are on. I thought Romo was maybe a little subdued but that may have come from the realization that the Bears simply weren’t performing to a credible standard on offense. Like pretty much every other Bears game he’s ever done. As he said about 5 minutes into the fourth quarter, “Well, this game should be over before midnight.” Honestly, I wanted to turn it off long before that.
- The statistics on this game are so grim, I’m not even going to bother. The Commanders dominated this game in every way. The difference in time of possession was a crime. Frankly, I’m surprised that the defense didn’t wear down more than it did.
- This was an absolutely miserable game to watch. The Commanders are a good team but the 2024 Bears offense made them look like the 1985 Bears on defense. The team was coming off of a bye and it was evident that their mind was still on vacation. This was simply about not being ready to play.
Caleb Williams now has a book on him. We’ll see the divisional rivals pick up on the fact that if you drop eight into coverage that Williams won’t be able to let the ball go. He was nervous and inaccurate in a way that we haven’t seen all year. He didn’t just look like a rookie. He looked like a bad rookie.
Such are the potential ups and downs of being a rookie quarterback in the NFL. Now we’ll see if Williams and the Bears adjust.