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Bears fall to Commanders in low-scoring affair | Game Recap

Written by ABC AUDIO on October 14, 2022

The Bears couldn’t overcome a multitude of mistakes Thursday night, including a pair of costly turnovers and no points on three red-zone possessions, in a 12-7 loss to the Commanders at Soldier Field.

The Bears (2-4) had a chance to take the lead in the final minute of the game following a missed 48-yard field goal by Commanders kicker Joey Slye that gave the offense the ball at their 38 with 1:49 to go. Quarterback Justin Fields scrambled 39 yards down the left side of the field to reach Washington’s 5. But on fourth-and-goal from the 4, Fields threw to receiver Darnell Mooney, who caught it short of the goal line, sealing the win for the Commanders (2-4).

“Our defense did an outstanding job of rising up there when we didn’t get that fourth down and forcing a missed field goal,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “And then we drove it all the way down the length of the field to give ourselves a chance to win it at the end there, and then didn’t punch it in.”

While the Bears didn’t score until the third quarter, they had two red-zone opportunities in the first half. On the team’s second drive of the game, Fields was picked off at the Washington 5 on a pass intended for tight end Cole Kmet. The following Bears possession resulted in a turnover on downs after Fields overthrew tight end Ryan Griffin in the end zone on third-and-goal from the 1 and running back Khalil Herbert was stopped short on fourth-and-goal.

“Finish, that’s it,” Fields said of the missed red-zone opportunities. “That’s the jist of the whole game: finish. We didn’t finish. Missed a wide-open touchdown pass, didn’t finish. Fourth-and-1, handed the ball off to [Herbert], couldn’t finish it. Last play, couldn’t finish it. There’s multiple plays in that game that we could’ve made to change the whole game, but the summary of it all is we didn’t finish. It doesn’t matter if you drive all the way down to the 5-, 1-yard line and don’t score. It’s the same thing as a three-and-out and you punt inside the 10. It’s the same thing. So just the biggest thing is just finishing.”

Washington’s go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter came after receiver Velus Jones Jr. muffed a punt at the Bears’ 6. Running back Brian Robinson Jr. had a 1-yard TD run to put the Commanders up 12-7.

Fields completed 14 of 27 passes for 190 yards while rushing for 88 yards. Running backs Herbert and David Montgomery added 75 and 67 yards on the ground, respectively.

Commanders quarterback Carson Wentz completed 12 of 22 passes for 99 yards; Robinson totaled 60 rushing yards on 17 carries and a score.

On the Bears’ second possession, the offense was driving downfield as Fields connected with Kmet for 15 yards then receiver Dante Pettis for 19 yards. But after reaching the Washington 5, Fields’ pass intended for Kmet was tipped by end Efe Obada then intercepted by tackle Jonathan Allen.

The Bears defense didn’t let the Commanders capitalize as linebacker Roquan Smith sacked Wentz on third down for a loss of 5 yards. After the Bears got the ball back at their own 30, Herbert evaded defenders and broke free for a 64-yard run to reach the Washington 6.

While the Bears had their best opportunity to score, Fields overthrew Griffin in the end zone and third down, then Herbert was stopped on the next play.

The game’s first score didn’t come until 46 seconds before halftime when Slye made a 38-yard field goal to put the Commanders up 3-0. Washington’s biggest play in the drive was a 16-yard run by J.D. McKissic, but cornerbacks Kyler Gordon and Jaylon Johnson were also flagged for pass interference, allowing the Commanders to stay on the field and reach Bears territory.

A 40-yard touchdown pass from Fields to Pettis gave the Bears a 7-3 lead with 7:16 remaining in the third quarter. On second-and-9, Fields snapped the ball quickly to catch the Commanders with 12 men on the field, then delivered a perfect deep ball to Pettis in the back of the end zone. The Bears went 94 yards on the 9-play drive.

“That was awesome,” coach Matt Eberflus said. That was great. We’ve been trying to pull that off these first few games, and we did. Man, what a throw. We all know he’s a great deep ball thrower and he threw right in there and Dante had a great catch and execution.”

The Commanders cut down the Bears’ lead to 7-6 as Slye kicked a 28-yard field goal with 14:51 left to play. On third-and-goal from the 10, tackle Justin Jones deflected Wentz’s pass for an incompletion, forcing the field goal try. Running back Antonio Gibson accounted for 43 of the 65 yards on the 13-play drive.

After the Bears defense forced a three-and-out, Jones muffed the ensuing punt and Washington recovered the fumble at Chicago’s 6-yard line. Robinson then punched it in from 1 yard out two plays later. While the Commanders failed on a two-point conversion, they took a 12-7 lead with 7:21 left in the game.

On the Bears following drive, an illegal use of hands penalty on cornerback Benjamin St-Juste sustained the possession after Fields was sacked on third-and-5. After a pair of incomplete passes, the Bears elected to go for it on fourth-and-11, but a delay of game penalty made it fourth-and-16. The offense stayed on the field, but Fields threw an incompletion intended for receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette and Washington took over with 2:28 to play.

2022 NFL season, Week 6: What We Learned from Commanders’ win over Bears on Thursday

Commanders run game does just enough. After last week’s nine-carry debut, Brian Robinson Jr. clearly earned the Commanders’ coaches’ trust for more work Thursday night. Robinson started, got the ball on the first two plays of the game and was in there late to help finish off Washington’s 12-7 victory. For the night, he carried the ball 17 times for 60 yards and scored the go-ahead touchdown midway through the third quarter. Robinson wasn’t ripping off many big runs, but his 16-yard run on the front side of the two-minute warning was a back-breaker for the Bears. More than anything, he showed more burst than you might expect from a player who was shot in the leg multiple times in late August. Throw in a few nice runs each from Terry McLaurin and J.D. McKissic, plus a surprise cameo from Antonio Gibson — who had four carries for 32 yards (all in the third quarter) — and Washington grinded its way to a short-week road win. It wasn’t pretty, but it was effective.

Bears’ red-zone woes continue. The Bears were 2 for 2 in red-zone opportunities in Week 5 against the Vikings but 0 for 3 in the five-point loss to the Giants. On Thursday, the Bears matched the Giants game’s inefficiency, with the game ending on Darnell Mooney’s fourth-down catch ruled down at the Washington 1-yard line. It was a fitting end for a team that is struggling to score points in some amazingly creative ways. The Bears had two promising early drives thwarted by red-zone turnovers — one a pick, the other on downs. Justin Fields’ helmet deflection-interception on Chicago’s second drive had some bad luck to it, but did he think he could fit it through a tiny hole? On the next Bears series, they drove to the 1, and Fields’ overthrow to a wide-open Ryan Griffin on second-and-goal was far more egregious an error than Khalil Herbert getting stuffed at the goal line on fourth down. That was the second time this season the Bears faced fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line and failed to get in.

Fields’ roller-coaster night deepens debate. Fields’ early mistakes were unmistakable. But so were the Bears’ offensive shortcomings. He was hit 12 times in the pocket, with five resulting in sacks, and that doesn’t count the number of times he was hit on 12 rushing attempts. Several times Fields winced following big hits and sat on the turf after them more than once. But he also misfired on throws and was at least partially guilty of once again holding on to the ball too long. Right now, Fields remains a giant mystery wrapped inside an enigma. His movement skill is uncommon, as seen on his 39-yard scramble that nearly helped win the game for the Bears. And he’s a good vertical thrower, as his bomb to Dante Pettis showed. But his overall refinement as a QB needs a lot of work; the execution on Chicago’s penultimate drive is good evidence of that. But how does improvement happen with an offensive line that can’t block and receivers who can’t separate or catch consistently? That’s the Bears’ biggest problem right now.

Commanders win in spite of Carson Wentz. Like Fields, Wentz has a propensity to attract foreign bodies; they’re now the two most-sacked quarterbacks in the NFL. Again, there’s the Rorschach test of who’s to blame: the line or the QB? But with both of these quarterbacks, they certainly lack the ideal pocket presence you’re looking for. With the run game working fairly well, it made sense to lean on it and sprinkle in a few high-percentage passes when the game tilted Washington’s way. But no one can say with a straight face that this is the offensive formula the team wanted before the season, not with the receivers they have and with the price the Commanders paid to land Wentz, who was 12-of-20 passing for 99 yards in the win. It’s clear that Scott Turner and Ron Rivera — coaches who might be fighting for their livelihoods — have very little trust remaining in high-leverage situations to call for even moderately risky throws. And we didn’t even need to hear Rivera’s early-week comments on Wentz to know that. We just watch the games.

Khalil Herbert has earned more touches for the Bears. When David Montgomery missed most of Week 3 and all of Week 4, Herbert was able to shine. He ran for a combined 234 yards and two TDs and caught all three passes thrown to him for 36 more yards. Last week against the Vikings, he was given four carries. On Thursday, he had seven — and one of them went for 64 yards. This is not a plea to take the ball out of Montgomery’s hands but one to give Herbert an expanded diet. This could be a Jonathan Stewart-DeAngelo Williams type of partnership if the Bears want it to be. With Fields’ running ability, the Bears actually could be tough to defend once they build back the offensive line.

Next Gen stat of the game: Justin Fields’ 40-yard TD pass to Dante Pettis had a completion probability of 22.9%, the most improbable completion of Fields’ career so far.

NFL Research: Carson Wentz improved to 7-0 on Thursday Night Football, which is the most wins without a loss in TNF history, which dates back to 2006. The next best number of wins without a loss is 2-0.

Washington Commanders survive late charge to beat Bears in Chicago

CHICAGO — The Washington Commanders improved to 2-4 after beating the Chicago Bears (2-4) 12-7 on a windy Thursday night in Chicago.

The Commanders won’t apologize for the aesthetics. They didn’t need to look pretty, they just needed to win. And that’s all they did.

Whether or not this win over the Bears gets their season pointed in the right direction remains to be seen. There’s plenty of work that remains after this victory. They commit too many penalties — 27 in three games. They don’t score many points — 47 in the past four games.

But, for now, it allows the Commanders (2-4) to exhale after losing four consecutive games. For a franchise in which every week seems to bring a new round of issues, winning provides a necessary salve.

Pivotal play: Midway through the fourth quarter, Washington punted after failing to convert on third down yet again. But it turned out to be a beneficial move. Returner Velus Jones Jr., fumbled the punt and rookie Christian Holmes recovered the ball on the 6-yard line. Two runs by rookie Brian Robinson later, Washington took a 12-7 lead. Robinson’s first carry gained five yards, helped in part by a Wentz block after the rookie cut outside.

QB breakdown: Wentz’s lack of mobility limits the offense. It’s not just on blitzes. He struggles to extend plays. Washington also ran him on what looked like a power sweep in the red zone, a curious call given how he’s running these days. Wentz hurt his hand and entered with a bad shoulder, so that might have hurt his passing on a windy night. He did have two passes dropped by Curtis Samuel, including one that would have put them inside the Bears’ 10-yard line. But, bottom line, he needs to play better if this offense is to generate points — and hope.

Promising trend: Defensive end Montez Sweat was held without a sack for the first four games of the season. There were times he’d get close, but needed a little more help from the coverage to finish the play. He’s received that help the past two games and has recorded three sacks and eight quarterback hits. Sweat recorded a sack and harassed Justin Fields on numerous occasions. If Washington is going to make any noise the rest of the season it needs Sweat to continue being a force.

Troubling trend: Third downs. In their last four games Washington has converted just 14-of-54 third downs, a function of an immobile quarterback and an offense seemingly unprepared to handle blitzes. Teams know Washington likes to run crossers so they often take away that option, but they also know Wentz will struggle vs. pressure. Washington needs to build in more help for Wentz in those situations.

Underrated statistic to know: Leading 3-0 at the break, Washington’s 88 yards in the first half were the fewest this season by a team up at halftime.

The Bears are the second team this season to top 390 yards of offense and score less than 10 points in a game. Chicago left 14 points on the board in the first half and couldn’t finish the job when Fields had the offense in position to win the game on the Bears’ final drive, which ended just short of the goal line.

On that play, Fields connected with wide receiver Darnell Mooney, who caught the ball around a Washington defender, but bobbled it. While running back David Montgomery was open in the flat on the other side of the field, he was Fields’ fifth read on the play, which the quarterback intimated there would have been a “five percent chance” that he got back to him after going through his progressions.

Same issues, different game. And that goes beyond quarterback play.

Fields was pressured 18 times on Thursday, tied for his most in a game in his career. Fields has now been pressured on 46% of his dropbacks this season. That’s the highest rate of pressure a QB has faced in his first six games since ESPN began tracking pressures in 2009.

QB breakdown: Fields’ strong second-half performance in Minnesota didn’t carry over to Thursday night. The Bears had two trips inside the red zone in the first half, the first of which resulted in Fields’ first interception inside the 20-yard line after he threw a ball into the helmet of Commanders’ defensive lineman Efe Obada, which was recovered by his teammate Jonathan Allen. The Bears’ next drive ended with another scoreless trip inside the red zone. Fields had tight end Ryan Griffin wide open in the end zone and sailed a ball past him on second-and-3 at the 3-yard line. Griffin had 4.05 yards of separation on that play, according to Next Gen Stats. Chicago had one more trip inside the red zone, set up by the longest run of Fields’ career — a 39-yard scramble in the fourth quarter — that ended with Darnell Mooney catching and bobbling a pass just shy of the goal line. These three trips inside the red zone without a score ties the most red-zone drives without a point in a game since 2000.

Bold prediction: Dante Pettis will return punts against the Patriots. Rookie Velus Jones Jr. has handled all of Chicago’s return duties since his debut in Week 4. But a fumble on a punt return that allowed Washington to recover the ball at the Chicago 6-yard line and score two plays later — after a muffed punt against the Giants with two minutes to play squashed any realistic chance of a comeback — will force the Bears to reconsider who they have deep on punt return.

Silver lining: The Bears don’t play again until Oct. 24, which gives them 10 full days of recovery before they face the New England Patriots in Foxborough. Guards Lucas Patrick (concussion) and Teven Jenkins (shoulder) both left the game briefly in the third quarter, which led to a shuffle up front that brought Michael Schofield III off the bench before the two returned. Fields will be feeling the effects of getting hit over 11 times and taking four sacks. He was slow to get up after a couple crushing blows to the ribs and appeared to injure his left shoulder in the second half.

Troubling trend: Chicago’s pass rush has been virtually non-existent. Entering Week 6, the Bears had a 28% pressure rate (19th), a 5% sack rate (22nd) and only eight sacks (tied for 25th). They upped that last number against Carson Wentz, sacking the Washington quarterback three times –two of which came on blitzes — but only pressured the Commanders’ QB on four of his 25 dropbacks (16%).

Underrated statistic to know: Fields has taken at least 2 sacks in every game this season and in 14 consecutive games, which is the longest active streak in the NFL.

Deshaun Watson facing new lawsuit stemming from 2020 massage

BEREA, Ohio — Another woman has filed a civil lawsuit against Deshaun Watson, alleging the suspended Cleveland Browns quarterback pressured her into oral sex during a massage session in 2020.

It is the 26th known lawsuit filed against Watson, accusing him of inappropriate sexual misconduct or sexual assault during massages.

In the lawsuit filed Thursday in Harris County (Texas), Watson is accused of soliciting the plaintiff over Instagram with a direct message for a massage at a Houstonian hotel room in Texas in December 2020, while he was a member of the Texans. The lawsuit states that during the session, Watson “continually pressured [the plaintiff] into massaging his private area” before he “removed his towel” and “offered to let her ‘get on top.'” According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff “refused to have sex with Watson, however, he was able to pressure her into oral sex” and “Watson paid [the plaintiff] $300 for her services, although her normal charge was $115 for an hour massage.”

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff has “suffered from severe depression and anxiety” since the alleged incident.

“My client’s experience with Deshaun Watson follows a series of disturbingly similar encounters reported by more than 20 women who have filed suit against the NFL superstar,” the woman’s lawyer, Anissah Nguyen, told ESPN. “Like so many others, my client spent nearly two years struggling to cope with the shame and trauma from all that he has stolen from her and the daily pain that has become her reality.

“Knowing her story will bring on the hard conversations, criticism and even victim-blaming, the strength and bravery of these other women gave my client the courage to stand up and speak out. She seeks justice not only for herself and her own healing, but for the more than 20 women who refused to be shamed into silence, and the victims who have yet to come forward.”

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Watson settled 23 of the lawsuits against him this past summer, but one remains outstanding, according to the plaintiff’s attorney, Tony Buzbee, who also represented the other women who had sued. One lawsuit was dropped after a judge’s ruling that the plaintiffs needed to amend their petitions to disclose their names. Two other women filed criminal complaints against Watson but did not sue him.

In July, the Texans reached settlements with 30 women who made claims or were prepared to make them against the NFL organization for what Buzbee called its alleged “enabling” of Watson’s behavior. The New York Times reported over the summer that the Texans had arranged for Watson to see massage therapists in a Houstonian hotel room.

Watson is serving an 11-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy by committing sexual assault on massage therapists, as defined by the NFL. On Aug. 18, the NFL and NFL Players Association reached a settlement on Watson’s suspension. He was also fined $5 million and has had to undergo a mandatory treatment program.

Two grand juries in Texas declined to pursue criminal charges against Watson earlier this year. But Sue L. Robinson, an independent arbiter jointly appointed by the league and players’ union, found that “the NFL carried its burden to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that Mr. Watson engaged in sexual assault.” Robinson also concluded in her report that Watson’s behavior was both “egregious” and “predatory.”

Watson has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and said that people haven’t been interested in listening to his side of the story.

“I’ll continue to stand on my innocence, just because, you know, settlements and things like that happen doesn’t mean that a person is guilty for anything,” he said Aug. 18, after the settlement agreement. “I feel like a person has an opportunity to stand on his innocence and prove that, and we proved that from a legal side, and just going to continue to push forward as an individual and as a person.”

Watson was allowed to re-enter the Browns training facility this week after being banned since Aug. 30 as part of the settlement. He can’t practice with the team again until Nov. 14. and won’t be eligible to play until Week 13, when the Browns travel to face the Texans in Houston on Dec. 4.

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Bears fall to Commanders in low-scoring affair | Game Recap

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