The Chicago Bears lost a low-scoring, 12-7 game to the Washington Commanders on Thursday night. There were high hopes from Bears fans after seeing how well Chicago played in the second half against the Minnesota Vikings last week.
Last week’s success didn’t translate, as the Bears were shut out in three of the four quarters against the Commanders. The Bears offense struggled from the start, and there wasn’t much to write home about in Thursday’s loss.
Here is everything we know about Chicago’s Week 6 loss.
Final Score: Commanders 12, Bears 7
Keys to the Game
Another Fumble Dooms the Bears: For the third straight game, Chicago lost a game because of a late fumble in the fourth quarter. And, unfortunately, two of those involved rookie Velus Jones. The Bears held a 7-6 lead with eight minutes left in the game when Jones muffed a punt on Chicago’s 9-yard line. Washington recovered and, two plays later, they punched it in from one yard out. The Bears had a chance to win it in the red zone, but Darnell Mooney failed to haul in the touchdown pass.
Success on the Ground: The Bears have run the football well this season, seeing big contributions from both David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert. Justin Fields has done well with running the ball, too, as he led the team with 88 yards on 12 carries. Overall, the Bears had 238 yards rushing on 37 attempts.
Justin Fields’ Development: After a second half where Fields went 12-for-13 against the Vikings, there were high expectations from the second-year quarterback to play well in prime time. Fields struggled early but still had a laser of a touchdown pass to Dante Pettis in the third quarter. He fared as well as he could under the circumstances, including poor pass protection and dropped passes. Fields finished the day 14-for-27, with 190 passing yards, one touchdown, and one interception. This is the fourth time this season that Fields has completed 50% or more of his passes, the Bears are 0-4 in those games.
Defensive Matchup: The Bears’ defense is the main reason why they’ve been in one-possession games — in all but one of their losses this season. Matt Eberflus’ defense has done enough to give Fields a chance to make the big play late in games – something we’ve seen very few of. Both Chicago and Washington played well defensively, keeping the game under 20 points.
It was over when...
It was over when the Bears couldn’t convert with goal-to-go on the final possession of the game. Washington’s kicker, Joey Slye, missed a 48-yard field goal that would have put the Commanders up eight points with less than two minutes to go.
After Slye missed the kick, Justin Fields led the Bears down 61 yards on eight plays to the 1-yard line. But, for the third time that night, they couldn’t convert. There were three opportunities for Chicago to find the end zone, but each failed. The final play of the game saw Fields go to Darnell Mooney, but he caught the ball just inches short of the goal line.
3 Stars of the Game
*Dante Pettis: Pettis scored the Bears’ lone touchdown on a 40-yard bomb from quarterback Justin Fields. He finished the game with 84 yards on four receptions, averaging 21 yards per catch.
**Roquan Smith: Roquan Smith continued to show why he is the heart and soul of the Bears’ defense. He led the team with 12 tackles, along with a big sack on Carson Wentz in the first half.
***Darnell Mooney: Despite coming up one yard short on the final play of the game, Darnell Mooney played well. He was targeted 12 times, coming down with seven catches for 68 yards.
What's next
The Bears will have a mini-bye week before they travel to New England to play the Patriots on Monday Night Football. This will be the Bears’ third and final prime-time game of the 2022 NFL season.
