Key numbers from Week 6: Commanders escape Windy City with a win

The Bad: Undisciplined play on defense continues to be a problem

8: Washington has been plagued with giving up big plays (rushes over 10 yards, passes over 20 yards) throughout Ron Rivera’s tenure. Cue the William Jackson jokes. However, with Jackson benched and Washington playing the second–worst offense in the league by yards, you’d expect an improvement. Nope, the Commanders allowed eight big plays throughout the game, including a 64-yard rush by Khalil Herbert.

214: Washington had 214 total yards of offense in the game. This was 24 yards less than Chicago had RUSHING and 10 yards less than the Bears accumulated on those eight big plays mentioned above. It was also Washington’s lowest total since Week 14 in 2020.

3: The Commanders have converted only three third-downs on offense over the past two games. After going 1-for-11 on third downs last week, Washington went 2-for-11 on third downs on Thursday night. Rivera might try hard to paint that as an improvement, but it shows an inability to get anything to work when it matters most.

7: Washington came in ranked fourth-worst in penalty yards per game and the penalty trend continued with the team having seven penalties accepted against the Bears.

A false start penalty on Cam Sims coming out of the third-quarter break pushed Washington from the 5-yard-line to the 10, on 3rd-and-goal, leading to the team settling for a field goal. An illegal use of the hands penalty wiped out a 3rd down sack late in the fourth quarter.

Then, there were additional penalties showing a complete lack of discipline and awareness, with the Commanders being flagged for too many men on the field twice, once on a play that ended with a 40-yard touchdown pass from Justin Fields to Dante Pettis.

23: Carson Wentz has now been sacked 23 times this season, which as of today, leads the league, tied with Justin Fields.

6: Washington was using its sixth offensive line combination in six games. That’s not ideal and speaks to some of the issues Wentz has been facing when trying to get the ball out.

2: Another week, another high-paid free agent underperforming. Curtis Samuel had two key drops today including one that could have gone for a touchdown in the first half. Samuel’s cap number this season is $12.6M, higher than Stefon Diggs, Davante Adams, and Mike Evans (h/t Grant Paulsen), so that’s no bueno.

With 10 days before the next game, the Commanders have time to work on their long list of issues before their next slate of NFC games against the 3-2 Packers, 4-1 Vikings, and 5-0 Eagles, with a Carson Wentz revenge game against the Colts in between.