No one had it worse than the Bears during the first quarter of the NFL season. Maybe even in the past year, as Chicago entered Thursday night with a 14-game losing streak.
But the Bears did some winning in the offseason by trading for wide receiver DJ Moore and acquiring an extra first-round pick in 2024 after sending this year’s No. 1 overall pick to the Panthers.
The Bears weren’t supposed to start 0–4. They weren’t supposed to blow a 21-point lead at home to a team coming off a 50-point loss. They weren’t supposed to tell wide receiver Chase Claypool to stay home and never return. And they certainly weren’t expecting quarterback Justin Fields to publicly question the coaching. They also had defensive coordinator Alan Williams resign because of inappropriate activity.
It was a nightmare first month for the Bears. But why stress when most mock drafts this past week had Chicago taking USC quarterback Caleb Williams and Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. back-to-back to open the 2024 draft? (The 0–4 Panthers entered Week 5 with the No. 2 pick, which belongs to Chicago.) Most teams would gladly take the first two picks in a loaded draft class instead of falling one or two games shy of the postseason.
The Bears have nothing to lose by losing games, and they might have realized that before beating the Commanders, 40–20, for their first win since Oct. 24 of last year.
It might have seemed as if Chicago’s win came—at least partially—as the result of a lucky break in the form of Joey Slye’s missed 46-yard field-goal attempt in the fourth quarter, but the Bears earned it by playing aggressively on both sides of the ball. Four days after a second-half collapse vs. the Broncos, they made sure to close out the Commanders on a critical third-and-2 play with less than five minutes remaining in the fourth. Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy dialed up a risky passing play, and Fields and Moore did the rest by connecting with a 56-yard touchdown to give Chicago a 17-point lead.
Alex Brandon/AP
Chicago quickly made it known that it was going to play aggressively in Washington after winning the coin toss and opting to take the ball. Fields’s first play was an incomplete pass downfield to Darnell Mooney. Two plays later, Fields connected with Moore for 58 yards. A few players later, Fields capped the opening drive by finding Moore again for a 20-yard touchdown strike.
Fields threw a second touchdown to Moore to make it 17–0 early in the second quarter. At that point, Moore had five catches for 137 yards and two scores as part of a monster night, finishing with eight catches for 230 yards and three touchdowns. Fields completed 15-of-29 passes for 282 yards, four touchdowns and no turnovers.
After the early double-digit lead, the Bears couldn’t afford to get complacent after blowing a 28–7 lead in the second half of last week’s game against the Broncos. The Commanders also had a close game last week, falling to the Eagles in overtime. Washington had an opportunity to defeat the defending NFC champions with a walk-off 2-point conversion, but coach Ron Rivera played it safe and settled for overtime.
That complacent approach carried into Thursday night for the Commanders, who found themselves down 27–3 at halftime after allowing the Bears to score on their first five drives.
As the Bears have known for the past year, mistakes from the prior week tend to continue for the next game—and sometimes they linger for 14 consecutive losses. Chicago finally made changes, including general manager Ryan Poles’s admission of getting it wrong with Claypool, whom the Bears acquired last season after sending the Steelers a second-round pick.
Poles took a misstep with Claypool, but not with Moore, who put on a show Thursday night. If the Bears end the season with a top-three pick in the draft, they likely wouldn’t get it wrong by drafting Harrison, who’s regarded as the best wide receiver prospect in recent memory.
But any prospect of Bears’ future draft picks are likely not at the forefront of Fields’s mind, as a top pick would likely mean the organization would have the opportunity to draft Williams or a different potential franchise quarterback prospect, such as North Carolina’s Drake Maye or Washington’s Michael Penix Jr.
For most young quarterbacks, it would be a massive mental burden knowing that an incoming rookie could potentially take your job in the offseason. But even if Fields plays well and guides the Bears to a winning streak, it might not help his long-term future in Chicago because the organization still has the Panthers’ pick. All Fields can do is improve and develop into a consistent passer for the remaining 12 games to force Chicago to remain committed to him—or possibly gain interest from other quarterback-needy teams.
So, again, these Bears have no choice but to play freely. They appeared to have fun Thursday night, and displayed growth by not allowing the Commanders to make it a one-score game in the fourth quarter. Even Matt Eberflus’s defense showed improvements. They applied consistent pressure on quarterback Sam Howell and didn’t allow Washington to gain a rhythm with the ground game.
It was just one win, but playing with nothing to lose can perhaps turn the Bears into this year’s Lions, who won eight of their final 10 games last season and are now on track to make the playoffs this season.
High draft picks are nice, but building a winning environment is more important. The Bears are finally building.
