CHICAGO — Carson Wentz turned quickly to unleash a pass as the Chicago Bears’ rush barreled toward him. Time has typically been limited behind the Washington Commanders’ battered offensive line, and Wentz’s pocket on this second-down throw expired quickly.
But as the ball left Wentz’s fingers, Bears defensive tackle Justin Jones swiped Wentz’s hand and bent his fingers back, leaving the quarterback hunched over in pain as the ball sailed out of bounds.
For most other teams, the sight of a starting quarterback — the highest-paid, most important player — bent over in discomfort would be a worrisome and dominating storyline.
For the Commanders, it was somewhere around the 15th-most important one as they took to Soldier Field on Thursday night in search of much-needed victory to temper their previous negative headlines.
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At least they got that.
“Just first and foremost, we got a win. A great team win,” left tackle Charles Leno Jr., facing his former team for the first time, said. “It was an ugly game. We all know that. A lot of these Thursday games have been ugly. But we got the ‘W.’ That’s all that matters.”
Against the equally inept Bears, Washington was out-mistaked to win, 12-7, and snap its four-game losing streak while instilling little confidence it’s on the verge of a turnaround.
Because the Commanders’ biggest gains came from the mistakes of their opponent. They took the lead on a muffed Bears punt in the fourth quarter but nearly threw it away with a missed field goal and a 39-yard run by Chicago quarterback Justin Fields. The Bears then failed to gain another four yards for the win in the final seconds.
The Commanders won despite the same sloppy play from past weeks, with confounding calls and repeated mistakes (missed tackles, missed assignments). The defense allowed the same explosive plays, and the offense had too many negative ones. But this time, Washington added a new wrinkle, a method of personal defeat: having too many men on the field.
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The Commanders were flagged not once for having 12 men on the field but twice. The second time was on a 40-yard touchdown pass by Fields. Think about that: Washington had an extra defender and still couldn’t eliminate big plays and scores.
But wait. There’s more.
The worst offense in the NFL outgained Washington, 202 yards to 88, at the half. Wentz was sacked three times, including two on blitzes that flummoxed his offensive line. He finished 12 for 22 for 99 yards with zero touchdowns and zero interceptions for a 66.3 rating.
Wide receiver Curtis Samuel dropped two passes in the first half, and the only thing that kept Washington from being shut out in the first three quarters was a pair of pass interference penalties on the Bears. Chicago was flagged twice in three plays, setting up a 38-yard field goal by Joey Slye for the first points of the game.
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It wasn’t until late in the third quarter that Washington finally cracked the Bears’ red zone. And even then, wide receiver Cam Sims was flagged for a false start on third and five, pushing the Commanders back to third and 10 and setting up another incomplete pass by Wentz.
Slye’s 28-yard field goal in the fourth quarter brought Washington within one point of the Bears’ lead, and it was around then that the Amazon Prime broadcast reminded viewers what a dreadful day it had been for the Commanders.
The cameras zoomed in on Commanders co-owner Daniel Snyder and President Jason Wright sitting in a suite at Soldier Field.
“Just my feeling,” Al Michaels said on the broadcast, “I think what the league would love is for Snyder to sell the team. Not have to go to a vote but just sell the team. ... I think it’s got a long way to go, and Dan is very well known for digging his heels into the ground.”
In recent months, the attitudes of NFL owners toward Snyder has hardened, with one telling The Washington Post that Snyder “needs to sell.” The franchise is under investigation by five entities, including the NFL and Congress, and early Thursday, an ESPN report revealed new layers of alleged wrongdoing. According to the report, Snyder told some confidants that he used private investigators to gather dirt on fellow team owners and Commissioner Roger Goodell.
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If only that had been the lone story of the morning.
The Commanders’ top-paid cornerback, William Jackson III, became the center of trade discussions after he was benched in favor of Benjamin St-Juste. According to one person with knowledge of the situation, Jackson has not requested a trade. But his discontent was apparent a week ago.
ESPN also reported that it was Snyder, not Coach Ron Rivera, who had pushed for the team’s trade for Wentz — a claim Rivera staunchly denied in his postgame presser.
“Everybody keeps wanting to say I didn’t want anything to do with Carson,” he said. “Well, bulls---. I’m the f------ guy who pulled up the sheets of paper, that looked at the analytics, that watched the tape when we were in freaking Indianapolis. And that’s what [upsets me]. The young man doesn’t deserve to have that all the time.”
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Rivera apologized, then abruptly walked away from the lectern.
On Thursday morning, just to pile on, there were also reports that Wentz had been suffering from a strained right biceps tendon, an injury that, if exacerbated, could hinder his throwing ability. Wentz said he was fine Tuesday and played the entirety of Thursday’s game, when he added his fingers to the list of painful appendages.
And for a final headline that was ultimately buried by kickoff, rookie running back Brian Robinson Jr., who last week returned after being shot during an armed robbery attempt in August, started the game. Veteran Antonio Gibson didn’t play at all in the first quarter and was used in a dual role as a back and returner, running back one kick for 27 yards.
Robinson ran in the winning score.
Midway through the fourth quarter, with the Bears ahead by one, Tress Way launched a 54-yard punt that Velus Jones Jr. dropped at the Chicago 9-yard line. Cornerback Christian Holmes recovered it at the 6, and Robinson waltzed into the end zone two plays later for the one-yard touchdown.
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“Oh, we needed this bad, man,” defensive tackle Daron Payne said. “I hope we can take this into next week and build on it.”
If there was a bright spot to the game and the day as a whole, it was Washington’s defense, which stopped the Bears three times at the goal line and sacked Fields four times. He finished 14 for 27 for 190 yards, one touchdown, an interception and a 71.5 rating.
Or maybe it was Wentz’s block that sent linebacker Roquan Smith to his knees on the play before Robinson’s touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
“I’m going to do anything I can to help them get it in the end zone,” Wentz said. “… Thankfully I’m not making a living doing that.”
Or maybe it was the little “W” added to the Commanders’ game log, a mark of a needed boost for a reeling franchise — but merely a note on an otherwise frustrating day.
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