BroBible
The Bears and the Commanders were both hoping to land a franchise quarterback when they drafted Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels, respectively, with the first two picks in the 2024 NFL Draft. They’ll be meeting for the second time on Monday night, and that showdown will mark the end of a lengthy streak that highlights the instability both squads have dealt with when it comes to finding a QB.
There isn’t a single NFL team that’s had to deal with a revolving door of quarterbacks over the past few decades that rivals the one the Browns have grappled with while seeing 41 different players start at least one game since they returned from their brief hiatus in 1999.
That ever-growing stat has also served as a welcome distraction for other teams that have also struggled to find a permanent solution at that position, an issue that has plagued both the Bears and the Commanders since the mid-1990s.
It certainly looks like Jayden Daniels will be the man under center in Washington for the foreseeable future, as the QB who won Rookie of the Year last season has dazzled since entering the league. The Bears could have drafted him but opted to scoop up Caleb Williams with the first overall pick in 2024, and while his inaugural season didn’t pan out as most people hoped, he has some time to figure things out under a new head coach.
The two of them will be facing off in a Monday Night Football showdown in Washington, and barring an unexpected development, that matchup will mark the end of a pretty brutal streak involving 14 games spanning close to 30 years.
The Bears have struggled to find a long-term solution at quarterback since Jim Harbaugh spent four seasons as their starter at the start of the 1990s; the seven seasons where Jay Cutler was the go-to passer between 2009 and 2015 mark the only real stretch of sustained stability.
The Commanders have also battled with a similar issue since the Mark Rypien Era came to an end around the same time Harbaugh’s did, and there’s been even more turnover at a position where the maximum shelf life of a QB in Washington has been around three seasons.
Fans of both teams have seen dozens of starting quarterbacks come and go since Washington’s Gus Frerotte and Chicago’s Erik Kramer went head-to-head in back-to-back years starting in 1996 (with the former going 2-0)
As Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic noted in a tweet on Monday, the rematch featuring those two men in 1997 also marked the last time the Bears and the Commanders both had the same starting quarterback in consecutive meetings—a streak that will finally be snapped after 28 years.
Fun fact: Tonight’s game will be the first time since 1997 the Bears and Commanders will both...
