Thursday Night Football continued to live up to its reputation of bringing ugly, ugly games to fans, and the Bears lost in excruciating fashion 12-7. There weren’t many points scored, and even fewer big plays. Lots of players on each side will have play sheets filled with bad grades, but there were a few Bears who performed well and gave them at least a chance to come away with a win.
KYLER GORDON
The rookie cornerback had a rude welcome to the NFL over the first five games of the season, as opposing quarterbacks picked on him early and often. He struggled as the team moved him back and forth from outside corner to slot corner. On Thursday, however, Gordon held his own. There was never a moment when he was completely torched for a big completion. He didn’t whiff on any critical tackles. Gordon’s best sequence came on back-to-back snaps in the second quarter. First, he made an athletic play to break up a pass intended for Antonio Gibson. Then, Gordon managed to bring down tight end Cole Turner in the open field with a great tackle, despite Turner having a considerable size advantage.
ALAN WILLIAMS
Heading into Thursday’s game, the Bears had just eight sacks in five games. They needed to do something to generate more pressure on the quarterback. So Alan Williams changed the way he typically calls a game and dialed up blitzes. A lot more blitzes. It seemed that whenever the Bears put the Commanders into a passing situation on third down, Williams decided to bring extra pressure, and it worked more often than not. Roquan Smith and Jaquan Brisker each came away with sacks as blitzers, and even when the extra rushers didn’t get home, Carson Wentz was pressured into throwing incomplete passes. We’ll see if the success from this philosophy change inspires Williams to blitz more moving forward.
BRAXTON JONES
Braxton Jones knew he was susceptible to the bull rush. The Commanders knew he was susceptible to the bull rush. Everyone knew he was susceptible to the bull rush. And yet, Jones wasn’t able to do much to stop it against Montez Sweat. The defensive end was a problem all night, finishing with one sack, four quarterback hits and two tackles for a loss. It’s not like it was a tale of two halves, either. Jones struggled from start to finish.
VELUS JONES JR.
Jones Jr. is in serious danger of losing his return job for the foreseeable future. The rookie once again muffed a punt, which once again played a huge role in the team’s loss. This time, it gave the Commanders the ball on the Bears’ six-yard line, setting up their game-winning touchdown. It wasn’t his only mistake either. Jones Jr. let the ball hit the ground on one punt, and called a fair catch on another when he had plenty of room to run. Matt Eberflus made it clear they were going to re-evaluate whether or not to move forward with Jones Jr. as the primary return man.
LUCAS PATRICK
Just like Braxton Jones, Patrick is becoming a consistent liability in the middle of the Bears offensive line. He was regularly pushed straight backwards in pass protection, allowing the Commanders to pressure Fields from the middle of the pocket. Matt Eberflus said the team would reassess everything about the offense over their mini bye week, from the scheme to the personnel. At this point it looks clear that the team needs to try Patrick at center, and someone else at left guard while Cody Whitehair recovers from his knee injury.
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