Hogs Haven
This matchup has been anticipated since (at least) the day that Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels were selected #1 and #2 overall in the 2024 draft. With both teams playing well and both rookie quarterbacks developing rapidly into polished professionals, the game was flexed into the late-afternoon window to broadcast it to a wider audience.
All of that drama was put into doubt when Daniels was injured on the first offensive play of the game against the Panthers last Sunday. Dan Quinn, the following day, declared the rookie “week to week” and said it was too early to know whether Jayden would be able to play against the Bears in Week 8. Despite Marcus Mariota’s identical pedigree (#2 overall pick) and excellent play in the 40-7 route of the Panthers, Washington went from being a home favorite to a home underdog in one fell swoop. when Sunday afternoon arrived, reports began to surface that Jayden Daniels would, indeed, play, setting up the QB matchup everyone wanted to see, and those reports were soon confirmed.
The game is important to both teams. Coming into the week, Washington, with a 5-2 record, sat atop the NFC East, but just a half-game ahead of the 4-2 Eagles, whose game against the struggling Bengals was moved to a 1:00 start time to make way for today’s Bears-Commanders flex. The Eagles beat the Bengals on the road, allowing them to match Washington’s 5-2 record, creating, at least for a few hours, a tie at the top of the division. Chicago, despite its 4-2 record, came into the week in last place in the ‘black & blue’ NFC North division, in which every other team has 5 wins. With the Lions winning in the early window, the Bears needed a win to prevent them from falling further back in the standings.
Neither the Bears nor the Commanders have yet beaten a team with a winning record, so today’s game has added significance since the winner will gain legitimacy while the loser risks being seen as a paper tiger.
The stakes couldn’t be much higher for two teams playing a mid-season, non-divisional matchup.
CLICK HERE if you prefer to read the Game Recap with links to videos instead of embedded tweets (to improve loading on older devices or limited-band internet connections).
You may need to wait 30-45 minutes or so after this article is published before the ‘links only’ version is ready to read.
Wearing their horrid black & yellow alternate uniforms, the Commanders kicked off to the Bears, wearing white jerseys today. With a touchback, the Bears started the game on the 30-yard line.
With a 2nd down sack by rookie DT Johnny Newton, the Bears almost immediately found themselves in a hole at 3rd & 15; a delay of game penalty pushed the ball back to make it 3rd & 20 with the home crowd roaring. Williams eluded pressure on 3rd down, but the checkdown pass to DJ Moore was...
