A look at the positional group matchups and key statistics in Thursday's Chicago Bears at Washington Commanders game with a prediction on the winner.
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00:00 The heat is amped up on Matt Eberfloos and the Bears coaching staff.
00:13 Although to me this doesn't seem like the mini bye week when the Bears would make their
00:17 changes.
00:18 They have one much later in the season and it makes more sense at that point.
00:22 They need to give Eberfloos more than four weeks into the season even though it has been
00:26 a 14 game losing streak.
00:28 So the Windlass Bears go to Washington without Chase Claypool again facing the 2-2 Washington
00:33 Commanders.
00:34 Here's who wins and why on Thursday Night Football.
00:37 Washington's great defensive front with Daron Payne, Jonathan Allen and Chase Young should
00:41 mean shutting down the run and keeping Justin Fields from getting outside for big plays.
00:47 But surprisingly the Commanders have given up too many big plays both against the run
00:52 and the pass.
00:53 Mainly it's because of their pedestrian linebackers in the secondary.
00:57 They're 21st against the run, 20th against the pass.
01:01 The line can't do everything for them.
01:03 Still I have to give them the edge against Fields and DJ Moore in the passing game because
01:07 of their pass rush.
01:09 Washington also gets a very slight edge when running the ball against the Bears defensive
01:13 front.
01:14 Brian Robinson and Antonio Gibson run with good power, good speed and the Bears have
01:18 a spotty group against the run so far.
01:22 They're not consistent, they show flashes.
01:24 The Commanders also get an edge for intangibles in this one.
01:27 The Bears have all that heat on Matt Eberfloos, the Chase Claypool situation.
01:33 Meanwhile Washington is coming off games with the Eagles and Bills.
01:37 Facing the Bears will feel like you're playing against a college team.
01:40 Even with Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson I can't give Washington an edge passing it
01:45 because number one their quarterback Sam Howell is very inexperienced.
01:49 It still does some dumb things.
01:51 But number two and the main reason is the Commanders offensive line.
01:55 With Charles Leno really being their best blocker, the former Bear, they are a group
02:00 of undrafted or day three draft pick guys who have allowed 24 sacks.
02:05 At that rate Howell will never finish the season.
02:07 That comes out to 102 sacks on the year.
02:11 Even the Bears might manage to get a sack or two in this one.
02:14 So no edge there.
02:15 Just as there is no edge for the Bears running game against the Washington defensive front.
02:20 They did get their ground game going last week but Denver is terrible against the run
02:25 and they still had moments where they stuffed the Bears like the fateful fourth down play.
02:30 The best Bears blocker Tevin Jenkins hasn't played in six or seven weeks so it's going
02:34 to be tough sledding.
02:36 There's no edge with the coaches here for either side.
02:38 Ron Rivera was thought to be on the hot seat even before this season.
02:42 That's because of their new ownership and of course Eberfloos is on a flaming hot seat
02:46 right now.
02:48 The only edge I can see for the Bears is special teams and it's a narrow one.
02:52 Jairo Santos hasn't missed, Joey Slide missed twice and the Bears punt returner Trent Taylor
02:58 has an average of two and a half yards better than Jamison Crotter who hasn't been very
03:03 good.
03:04 Both teams have good punters but neither covers punts very well.
03:08 As a result I have to give this to Washington in another tight Bears game like last week's
03:12 except without the blown 21 point lead.
03:16 It'll be Washington 23 and the Bears 19.
03:19 The Bears will be 0-5 and 15 straight losses but who's counting.
03:22 Don't look for Eberfloos' firing just yet unless they were to get totally embarrassed
03:27 like in the Chiefs game.
03:28 [MUSIC PLAYING]