UPDATE ON JAYDEN DANIELS CASTS MORE DOUBT ON QUICK RETURN
WHERE ANALYTICS HAVE BEGUN FAVORING CALEB WILLIAMS' EFFORTS
BEARS TRAIL NFC NORTH TEAMS IN POWER RANKINGS BUT FOR HOW LONG?
BEARS COULD HAVE A PUNCHER'S CHANCE AT FUMBLE RECOVERY GOAL
Spanish Radio: Latino Mix 93.5 FM (Omar Ramos, Miguel Esparza)
The Line: Bear by 2 1/2, over/under 44.
The Series: The 54th meeting, with Washington leading 27-25-1. The Bears have won their last two in Washington and scored 30 or more in both. They won 40-20 in Washington last year. The Bears have won two of the last three but before that had lost seven straight to Washington.
The Coaches: Bears coach Matt Eberflus is 14-26 in his third season and 1-0 against the Commanders. The Bears are 3-16 under Eberflus in road games and 1-1 under Eberflus following byes.
Commanders coach Dan Quinn is in his first season with the Commanders and is 51-46 in six NFL seasons overall. His Falcons teams were 1-1 against the Bears. He was coach of the Falcons from 2015-2020 and led them to Super Bowl LI. was a finalist for the Bears job along with Jim Caldwell and Matt Eberflus in 2022 before Eberflus got the job. Quinn was defensive coordinator for the Seahawks when they had the Legion of Boom team and won the Super Bowl in 2012 and also was Dallas defensive coordinator 2021-2023.
Last Week: The Bears had a bye but the week before scored a 35-16 win in London over the Jacksonville Jaguars as Caleb Williams threw for four touchdowns with one interception and completed 23 of 29 for 226 yards. He hit Cole Kmet twice for TDs and Keenan Allen twice. The Bears defense took the ball away with a Josh Blackwell interception and Elijah Hicks fumble recovery.
The Commanders blew out Carolina 40-7 but QB Jayden Daniels had to leave after 10 plays due to a rib injury and is described as "week to week," by Quinn. With Daniels out, QB Marcus Mariota led the way by completing 19 of 26 for 203 yards with two touchdown passes while rushing for 34 yards. Washington had a pick-6 in the game from Dante Fowler to start the scoring and Brian Robinson Jr. rushed for 71 yards and a TD.
The Matchup: If Daniels can play, it's the No. 1 draft pick this year, Caleb Williams, against Daniels, who was No. 2. If Daniels doesn't play, it's Marcus Mariota, who has won two starts against the Bears. Daniels is leading the NFL in completion percentage (75.6%) on 127 of 168 for 1,410 yards with six TDs and two interceptions. Williams got off to a slow start but has come on strong over four games. For the year he is 130 of 199 (65.3%) for 1,317 yards with nine TDs and five interceptions. All nine TDs came in the last four games. D'Andre Swift and the Bears running game have also surged as he had 68 yards the first three games and has 257 in the last three. He has 147 yards receiving on 13 catches in those three games. It's the first game for Bears DE Montez Sweat against his old team, after the Commanders traded him to the Bears last year before the trading deadline for a second-round pick.
Of Note: When the Bears won last year's game in Washington 40-20, DJ Moore had three TD catches out of his eight receptions and gained a career-high 230 yards. ... Quinn was a finalist for the Bears coaching job along with Jim Caldwell and Eberflus in 2022 before Eberflus got the job. ... Washington offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury was an assistant coach at USC helping Caleb Williams last year, and Kingsbury was interviewed for the Bears offensive coordinator position that Shane Waldron got. ... If Williams gets a 100 passer rating again he'll be the first rookie to do this four straight games since Deshaun Watson in 2017 and first Bears QB to do it since Jay Cutler did it over the 2009-2010 seasons. No Bears quarterback has done it within a season since the AFL-NFL merger. ... Williams needs three TD passes to break the Bears rookie record of 11 in a season. ... TE Cole Kmet needs one TD catch to move into third all time for the Bears in tight end TD catches. ... WR DJ Moore has more receiving yards (6,879) than any player who has come into the league since 2018. ... A 6-2 start would be Washington's best since 2008. ... WR Terry McLaurin needs two catches to pass Ricky Sanders (414) for seventh in franchise history. ... Daniels has more rushing yards (372) than any rookie QB in NFL history through seven games. ... Washington RB Austin Ekeler is tied wit Derrick Henry for most TDs from scrimmage by a back since 2021 (45).\
Next Week: The Bears are at Arizona in a Sunday, Nov. 3 game at 3 p.m. while the Commanders have a road game at noon against the Giants.
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