The Washington Commanders win and get to 3-2 on the season and doom the Chicago Bears to an 0-5 start to the season on Thursday Night Football if... That's the question Kevin Sheehan is asking ahead of an important game for Ron Rivera and Sam Howell on a short week at FedEx Field.
Before getting into his answer, Sheehan starts by saying that if you haven't watched much of the Bears this season, they can be capable on offense but it hasn't been a smooth operation whatsoever. "It was very good for... about three quarters Sunday against Denver, understood. We know what Denver is because we erupted for like 35 points in 25 minutes of clock time. Denver is not a good defense," he said. "But Chicago just has some good offensive players."
And then you get to Justin Fields at quarterback. Is he good? Is he for real? That's still much left to be seen, but he has some skills that could make him a dangerous player. "When you watch him... he was great [last week], he wasn't good for 2.5, three quarters, he was great," Sheehan said, adding that he is a threat in the zone-read and with designed runs even if he has an off night throwing the football, which can be the case.
Having said that about Fields and Chicago, they did end up blowing a 28-7 and the game turned on a crucial Fields turnover on a bootleg.
Overall, Sheehan believes that Washington's offense should be able to do whatever they want - run, pass, screen game, everything is on the table - against the Bears who have allowed 137 points through four games this season or 34.25 points on average. (Of course, 41 of those points came in a hellacious effort at the Kansas City Chiefs.)
Here are Sheehan's three keys: 1) Commanders defense has to slow down Fields and the Bears' playmakers and control the line of scrimmage, 2) Avoid being a drop-back passing offense and Eric Bieniemy sticks with what worked in Philly and Denver and 3) don't let Chicago hang around in this game by turning the ball over, get a lead and put the game to bed.
Reminder: Pregame coverage can be heard on Team 980 starting at 4 p.m. with Logan Paulsen and Craig Hoffman.
