Chicago Bears fall inches short of a Thursday night victory

The Chicago Bears came into their Thursday Night Football game with a feeling that they could win. They were 2-3 but every game except one was close. That meant that the 1-4 Washington Commanders should be more of the same for them.

It was. Unfortunately, it was a close game that went against them. They had lots of offensive production in the game but it only led to one touchdown as they were defeated by a final score of 12-7.

It is strange that their defense only allowed 12 to a bad Commanders team and they still lost. It is even more strange when you look at it and see that the defense was surrounded by an offense that had 428 yards total.

190 of those yards came from the arm of Justin Fields. That isn’t elite or anything like that but it is very good for him as he continues to develop. He had some bad misses but he also made some throws that were really good.

His connection to Dante Pettis in the endzone was one of the best throws he has made in his career. It was a free play because of the 12 men on the field penalty that the Commanders were taking and Fields didn’t miss on it.

The Chicago Bears are a team that has a lot of work to do this season.

The biggest problem for him right now is some of his reads. Sure, he struggles with accuracy from time to time but that can be corrected. The thing that needs to be taken care of first and foremost is the adjustments that he makes mid-play.

He seems to lock in on one receiver and that leaves others wide open without him even taking a look at them. Similar to his overthrowing issue, this is something that can be corrected with more development.

Both of these things were fine in college so he needs to adjust to the NHL more. The fact that the offense had that many total yards is encouraging but they just need to start capitalizing. If they capitalized on literally one more red zone opportunity, they would have won the game.

After going down 12-7, the Bears had a chance to win the game late thanks to a nice drive by Justin Fields. They got to the red zone but failed to convert on fourth and goal.

Darnell Mooney went out of bounds before securing the ball on what would have been a game-winning score. It was a tough way for them to end but the way they drove the ball was something to be encouraged by. Again, they just need to work on conversion.

There was one big problem in the game and that was the fact that Fields was on his back a lot. The offensive line was horrible but this kid is tough. If they ever did build a good line, you can’t help but wonder how great he can be.

It is good news that they seem to be progressing offensively but still have a lot of work to do. It is also nice that the defense only allowed 12 points. Yes, it’s Carson Wentz and the Commanders but it is still an NFL team with great players.

Every week seems to bring more positives than the one before. Only time will tell if they are able to ever win big with this budding core but this game had some good signs.