Bear Digest

Bears will not face two of Commanders' top three wide receivers

The receiver who beat the Bears last year is out of Monday night's game, along with another top threat as Jayden Daniels' list of potential targets has dwindled.
Gene Chamberlain|
Wide receiver Noah Brown catches the Hail Mary last year against the Bears but won't catch any passes in Monday's rematch.
Wide receiver Noah Brown catches the Hail Mary last year against the Bears but won't catch any passes in Monday's rematch. | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The man who finished off the Bears in the “Fail Mary” game last year will miss the rematch on Monday night.

That’s not QB Jayden Daniels. It’s the player who caught the tipped 52-yard pass by Daniels on the game’s final play, wide receiver Noah Brown. Brown has a knee/groin injury and had gone through limited practice earlier in the week.

At the end of the week, his condition hadn’t improved and Brown has been ruled out.

It was Brown who was supposed to be guarded by Tyrique Stevenson but the Bears cornerback had his back turned to the play when it started as he hollered at fans in Washington. Then Stevenson rushed back into middle of the field and carelessly tipped the ball back to Brown, who he was supposed to guard.

Brown is the third Commanders wide receiver and is not the only one they’ll be missing. Also out is their top deep threat, Terry McLaurin, because of a quad injury. McLaurin hadn’t practiced this week and previously was reported to be an unlikely participant by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Another somewhat surprising situation is wide receiver Deebo Samuel being listed questionable, or 50-50, with a heel injury. He had been out of practice on Thursday and missed Saturday's practice. On Friday, the Commanders did not actualy practice but posted a projected injury report and he was limitd on that one. So Samuel hasn't actually practiced this week.

Samuel leads the Commanders in receptions with 30. Normally McLaurin might be expected to be in that statistical spot but he’s been out since he suffered a Week 3 injury.

The other top wide receiver Washington had in the Hail Mary game is not with the team. That's because he's on the Bears now. That's Olamide Zaccheaus.

It may not matter who is catching passes and who isn't for Washington because the Commanders may not need much of a passing game. They lead the NFL in rushing and the Bears have the worst yards per carry allowed in the league.

Commanders guard Sam Cosmi practiced all week despite a knee injury but is doubtful. He is still on the physically unable to perform list and has missed every game.

Running back Chris Rodriquez is questionable despite missing every practice this week.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.