Bear Digest

What Commanders found to make job tougher for Bears and Caleb Williams

Analysis: Washington found something Sunday against a tough opponent that makes the Bears' task in their next game look even more difficult.
Gene Chamberlain|
Caleb Williams had a tough time last year as a rookie trying to move it against the Commanders' defense.
Caleb Williams had a tough time last year as a rookie trying to move it against the Commanders' defense. | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The Bears saw the last thing they needed to see on Sunday from their next opponent and it had nothing to do with quarterback Jayden Daniels.

Not that Daniels was bad at all. In fact, he was thoroughly efficient in the Washington Commanders' convincing 27-10 road victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.

Daniels went 15 of 26 for 231 yards and a touchdown to Debo Samuel. Daniels also did his thing running it with 39 rushing yards in his return from a knee injury that had sidelined him for two games. All of that was to be expected.

However, it doesn't bode well for Caleb Williams that Washington's defense played well  for the first time since the season opener when they had shut down the Giants 21-6.

Washington allowed 155 yards rushing Sunday but don't be fooled by that number because 41 yards came on a Justin Herbert scramble. He led the Chargers in rushing with 60 yards. They limited Herbert to only 166 yards passing and only 5.72 yards per pass attempt and did something they really had been having trouble with and that's rush the quarterback.

The Chargers had only 77 yards rushing on 21 carries from their running backs and the Commanders' five sacks were a season high as Dorance Armstrong had two sacks to increase his season total to five. The Bears' defense has five as an entire team. And Armstrong will likely be facing tackle Theo Benedet in his first start at left tackle.

In short, the Commanders fould that Bobby Wagner and Co. could dominate a game on defense again, which usually doesn't happen against a Jim Harbaugh offense.

The Commanders had allowed 85 points over the three games before this one but now their defense appears to be back on track like it was before they were dismantled by Green Bay in Week 2.

The Bears normally don't need to face much of a defense to struggle on the ground, as they currently rank 26th in yards per carry at 3.8 and are getting only 3.6 yards per carry from starting running back D'Andre Swift.

In last year's "Fail Mary" game, they had a terrible time doing anything against Dan Quinn's defense until very late in the third quarter when Swift broke a 56 yard touchdown run on a simple toss-sweep play. Williams threw for only 131 yards in that loss but did get the offense going late in the fourth quarter enough to gain a 15-12 lead with 25 seconds left.

No one wants to relive the Bears' horrible ending in that game but it will happen numerous times during the next week.

Washington's defense now looks more like one capable of keeping the Commanders from needing a final desperation heave to beat the Bears. With Daniels' return as an effective passer and runner, it can't be good for Chicago when the Bears defense is still searching for answers with its own defense and can't run the ball with any consistency.

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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.