Commanders vs. Bears recap (2024)

Week 6 began with the Commanders outlasting the Bears 12-7 in a defensive struggle on Thursday Night Football.

Washington (2-4) did not score a touchdown until the fourth quarter, but that 1-yard rushing score by Brian Robinson gave the Commanders a 12-7 lead with less than eight minutes to play. Bears quarterback Justin Fields led Chicago (2-4) inside the Washington 5-yard line in the final seconds, but the Bears couldn't punch it in. Fields' fourth-down pass was juggled by Darnell Mooney before he came down with the ball short of the goal line and Chicago turned the ball over on downs.

With the win, Commanders quarterback Carson Wentz improves to 7-0 all-time in Thursday games as a starter. He's the fourth quarterback in NFL history to win at least seven straight Thursday starts, joining Tom Brady, Russell Wilson and Peyton Manning.

• Final stats and boxscore (Commanders 12, Bears 7)
• Complete Week 6 schedule
• League-wide Week 6 updates and game previews

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(Photo: Matt Marton / USA Today)

CHICAGO — On second-and-goal from Washington’s 3 in the second quarter, Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy seemingly called the perfect play.

It featured a fake up the middle to running back Khalil Herbert, who had gotten the Bears into scoring position with a 64-yard run moments earlier, then another on an end-around to receiver Equanimeous St. Brown to the left.

Through it all, tight end Ryan Griffin held his block on Washington defensive end James Smith-Williams before releasing and heading toward the end zone. He was open.

Wide open.

But quarterback Justin Fields missed him. A layup bounced off the rim — or Griffin’s outstretched arm and hand.

“That was the play design,” Griffin said. “And we just missed on it.”

It was a bad miss during an awful 12-7 loss for the Bears against a woeful Washington team on Thursday night that essentially told everyone who watched on national television that one of the worst teams in the league now resides in Chicago. And Fields — aching from the beating he endured against a talented Commanders defensive line — seethed afterward.

“The one that’s making me mad is the one to Grif in the end zone,” Fields said. “He probably could have ran a little bit more. But he’s wide open. I got to hit that. I’m an NFL quarterback. I got to hit that.”

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CHICAGO — No cap: It was a great block by Carson Wentz. Great.

Wentz’s block came in the fourth quarter, with Washington behind, and with the wind and the Bears’ defense and Wentz’s throbbing fingers and his aching shoulder and general Commanders offensive ineptitude threatening to finish off Washington’s season before Halloween.

The 6-foot-5, 237-pound Wentz pancaked Bears tackling machine Roquan Smith, allowing Brian Robinson to advance the ball from Chicago’s 6-yard-line to the 1 — which set up Robinson’s first career touchdown on the next play, the winning score in Washington’s ugly, ugly, 12-7 victory over the Bears.

“He cracked Roquan. Cracked him,” Commanders tackle and former Bear Charles Leno Jr. said, laughing. “Tell Roquan I said he got knocked out. That’s my dog.”

That Wentz’s biggest contribution Thursday didn’t involve what he’s getting paid $28.3 million to do this season seemed appropriate, somehow. Everything about Thursday was raw, unsettling — starting with the ESPN report detailing that more NFL owners may be ready to finally move on Daniel Snyder, though Snyder, according to the report, believes he has sufficient damaging intel on his fellow lords and commissioner Roger Goodell to keep them at bay.

It was blustery and cloudy. Wentz came into the game banged up, and got more dinged by hitting his throwing hand on a Chicago defensive lineman’s hand in the first half. And the game … oh, Lord, what Amazon must be thinking after the last two weeks of NFL “football” it’s had to display in its inaugural season as a broadcaster.

But, just as he did last week against Tennessee — when he knocked over Titans linebacker David Long, Jr. (Long, unfortunately for Washington, got the last laugh) — Wentz threw his body into the fray.

“Love seeing your quarterback put his body on the line,” Jonathan Allen said.

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CHICAGO — Late in the second quarter Thursday night, Bears rookie Velus Jones Jr. signaled for a fair catch on a punt, but he saw there was a lot of space in front of him. So when he got a shot in the fourth quarter with his team up by one point, he wanted to make a play.

Instead, he muffed the punt — his second fourth-quarter lost fumble in three weeks. The Commanders recovered and took the lead for good two plays later.

“Rookie mistake,” Jones said after the game. “Just because it was a look then doesn’t mean it’s gonna be a look the next time. That’s one I should’ve definitely let go.”

Jones acknowledged he was “trying to do too much.” It was a ball he should’ve let go into the end zone, especially considering the situation. There was 8:18 left in the game. The Bears had just forced a three-and-out, thanks in part to a clutch tackle by linebacker Nicholas Morrow. They were going to get the ball back with the lead.

“We know that was a devastating blow,” Jones said. “I own up to my mistakes. We wouldn’t be in that situation if that punt wasn’t muffed.”

That’s not the singular reason the Bears fell to 2-4 with a 12-7 loss to Washington. They were inches away from victory despite Jones’ error, as wide receiver Darnell Mooney failed to finish his catch across the goal line on fourth down, the team’s third miss in a goal-to-go situation on the evening.

But the Bears have a minuscule margin of error with this roster. They were a nationally televised laughingstock again in the first half when they scored zero points. They finally had the crowd into it after quarterback Justin Fields’ 40-yard touchdown throw to wide receiver Dante Pettis, and then Jones’ fumble turned the game in an instant.

“Wasn’t a smart play,” Jones said. “Should’ve let it be a touchback.”

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CHICAGO — And you thought the Washington Commanders had a wild morning.

On a chilly and, yes, windy Thursday night at venerable Soldier Field, 1 yard separated Ron Rivera’s team from a fifth consecutive loss. That’s enough to raise anyone’s blood pressure.

This is coming on a day in which the organization took another series of public-opinion L’s involving owner Dan Snyder … while capping a short football week that probably felt like a year for the coach who inadvertently created a controversy involving his quarterback while putting a larger target on his job security … all at the stadium where he played his entire NFL career. Rivera’s passion overflowed postgame.

“Coach was in his feels this week,’ offensive tackle Cornelius Lucas said. “Rightfully so. He got a win (with) his job on the line and his reputation on the line. He’s very proud, wants to do the right things, and wants to win.”

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In a low-scoring game, the Washington Commanders prevailed against the Chicago Bears 12-7 on Thursday night. The Commanders improve to 2-4 on the season while the Bears also go to 2-4.

The Bears and Commanders entered halftime of their Thursday Night Football game with zero touchdowns scored. It marked six consecutive quarters played on Thursday Night Football without a touchdown scored by either team; four quarters in the Indianapolis Colts versus Denver Broncos game on Oct. 6 and two in the Bears and Commanders contest.

However, the drought was ended midway through Thursday’s third quarter on a 40-yard touchdown pass from Justin Fields to Dante Pettis that put Chicago ahead 7-3. In all, the touchdown-less streak on Thursday Night Football spanned three games, parts of eight quarters, and more than 100 minutes of game time.

Read more here.

Ron Rivera did not look like a victorious head coach when he took the podium after a 12-7 win in Chicago, his first win as a head coach at Soldier Field. He said he was given the game ball, and that he was happy with the way QB Carson Wentz played in the physical game, but he was angry about sloppy substitutions on defense, and then he got angrier when the questions turned to Dan Snyder.

I asked Rivera about Al Michaels’ comments during the TNF broadcast. Michaels was surprisingly direct when he brought up Snyder. “What the league would love is for Snyder to sell the team,” he said. “Not have it go to a vote, but sell the team. He’s just become a major problem around the league, obviously.” So I asked Rivera if he heard the news surrounding Snyder today (h/t to ESPN’s incredible reporting today), and how he handles that. He said that it’s not important to him at all, and he’s trying to keep the focus on the guys in the locker room.

Then Matt Paras of the Washington Times followed up with a question about how Rivera seemed more fired up than usual, and he’s had to address Snyder news before in his time in Washington. Why was he more angry this time? That’s when he launched into his rant that featured real, live cuss words.

It was like Rivera finally broke on the topic of Snyder the owner. He was so mad about the report that Snyder is the one who wanted Carson Wentz, and angry about having to constantly fend off the distraction that is having Snyder as an owner. Just from his body language and how fast he was talking I could tell this was a walk-off answer, and sure enough, he was fuming so hard he banged into the railing of the stairs as he left the podium. I almost forgot that the Commanders did in fact win this game.

The Bears came away with zero points on their three goal-to-go drives in Thursday’s loss to the Commanders: Interception, turnover on downs, turnover on downs.

Per TruMedia, Chicago is the only NFL team since 2000 to have at least three goal-to-goal drives in a single game and fail to score points on any of them.

With the win over the Bears, Commanders QB Carson Wentz improves to 7-0 all-time as a starter in Thursday games.

Wentz is just the fourth quarterback to ever win seven consecutive Thursday starts, joining Tom Brady (nine straight from 2002-15), Russell Wilson (nine straight from 2013-20) and Peyton Manning (eight straight from 2004-13).

Commanders coach Ron Rivera refuted an item in an ESPN story today that cited sources saying owner Dan Snyder drove the team's trade for Carson Wentz.

Rivera abruptly ended his news conference after talking about this. (Warning: language)

Washington capitalized on a fourth quarter muffed punt by Bears returner Velus Jones Jr. to score its only touchdown of the game, but that was enough to give the Commanders a 12-7 win over Chicago in the Week 6 Thursday Night Football matchup.

This contest marked the second consecutive week of less than stellar football on Thursday night, as Washington’s offense averaged only 4.0 yards per play in this contest. Chicago fared better on a per play basis but failed to score a point on early game drives that ended inside the Commanders 5-yard line and thus landed on the wrong side of a 3-0 score at the end of the first half.

The Bears finally found the end zone in the third quarter when Justin Fields launched a deep pass to Dante Pettis for a 40-yard scoring play. Washington then closed to within a point with a 28-yard Joey Slye field goal and then gained the 12-7 lead after Brian Robinson ran the ball in from the 1-yard line following the fumbled punt. It was Robinson’s first NFL touchdown and came only a couple of months after he was shot multiple times in the leg during a carjacking attempt.

Chicago had a chance to win the game very late in the fourth quarter when Fields once again drove the Bears to inside the Washington 5-yard line, but a scramble for one yard and two incompletions left Chicago with a 4th and goal at the 4-yard line. Fields hit Darnell Mooney with a completion, but Mooney juggled the ball and couldn’t come down with the ball in the end zone due to aggressive coverage by Washington cornerback Benjamin St-Juste.

Washington (2-4) hosts Green Bay in Week 7. Chicago (2-4) travels to New England to face the Patriots next week.

You never apologize for a win in the NFL, but the Commanders did just about everything they could to lose this game. They were outgained 392 to 214 despite facing one of the worst offenses in the league. Carson Wentz threw for only 99 yards and was sacked three times. No receiver had more than three catches.

Washington needed an interception that went off a helmet, a recovery of a muffed punt and three fourth-down stops to win a game that was even uglier than the final score, 12-7.

The second half of this game has helped some fantasy managers salvage some points, but in general this contest has still been a disappointment for anyone who started Bears or Commanders players in Week 6.

• Bears WR Darnell Mooney 12.5 points
• Commanders RB Brian Robinson 11.7 points
• Commanders WR Terry McLaurin 8.2 points
• Commanders RB Antonio Gibson 8.0 points
• Bears RB Khalil Herbert 7.5 points
• Bears RB David Montgomery 6.7 points
• Commanders WR Curtis Samuel 2.6 points
• Commanders RB J.D. McKissic 2.0

(Photo: Matt Marton / USA Today)