The Takeaways, week 5: Chicago at Washington
October 9, 2023
by Steve Thomas
Welp….that stunk, huh? Most people expected Washington to win the battle against the Chicago Bears, by varying degrees – my final prediction on The Hog Sty Podcast was a close victory. I’m sure that some people called the Bears win, but nobody, and I mean nobody, expected Chicago to absolutely destroy and demoralize the home team. I was truly shocked at the pathetic and uninspired 3 or so quarters of play in this game. Honestly, I don’t know how they recover from something like this; the game was a nationally-televised humiliation of the highest order. I suppose we’ll find out in due time how the team responses to this disaster. For now, though, let’s hit The Takeaways for this week. I’m warning you now: get ready for some negativity, folks.
I’ve had enough of this secondary
I’m not going to pile on to the anti-Emmanuel Forbes sentiment. Yes, he’s been awful most of the time, and yes, it’s probably time to bench him for someone else. But he was far from the only problem this week – Kendall Fuller decided the right time to try to jump a route and go for a glory-pick 6 was when he was isolated one on one with the Bears best receiver, D.J. Moore, with no safety help over the top. That wasn’t the only example of problems. The safeties were consistently out of place, and Benjamin St-Juste had his share of poor plays as well. Considering how many resources the team has put into this position group, they have the right to expect better than the absolute dreck that oozed out of the defensive backfield this week. This was a shameful, bottom of the barrel performance. May God have mercy on their souls.
The vaunted defensive line gets an “F”
Not for behind the secondary comes the defensive line, who proudly gave up 7.6 yards per carry to Khalil Herbert and 5.6 yards per carry overall to a team that isn’t a particularly good running offense. They also gave Bears quarterback Justin Fields significant time in the pocket most of the day. I have no idea how it was that four first round picks managed to fail this badly against an average at best offensive line. I realize that running quarterbacks historically give Washington fits, but still: this one was a real mystery. Sure, the fact that Washington doesn’t have any linebackers on the roster didn’t help, but all of that running space was largely attributable to the defensive line, in my view. This was a baffling performance.
Sam Howell is consistently inconsistent
Howell’s raw numbers in this game weren’t terrible; he was 37 for 51, which is a 72.5% completion percentage, 388 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception, and a 99.1 rating. In fact, when taken in a vacuum, those stats are solid. However, he had trouble properly reading the field again in this game. He definitely had his bright spots this week, but still isn’t close to being a finished product. The offensive line allowed 5 sacks again, which didn’t help and is even more egregious considering that, prior to this game, the Bears had all of 2 sacks in 4 games; however, it is clear that Howell still has a ways to go. At this moment, for this week at least, he’s not someone who is good enough to lead his team to victory when everything else goes wrong. Let’s hope that he gets at least the whole season to prove himself.
Eric Bieniemy forgets the team has a running back room, again
I understand that Washington was way behind during this entire game, but this week, Bieniemy called a total of 60 pass plays, including 51 passes, 5 sacks, and 4 scrambles by Howell, and just 6 runs. At halftime, the balance was 15 pass plays to 6 runs. That’s simply not a recipe for success with this team. Bieniemy needs to understand that this team needs to establish a running game in order to win. I don’t expect an even balance in a blowout, but these numbers are ridiculous, and 4 of 5 games so far this season have been imbalanced. Do better, Eric.
Ron Rivera’s future
Most fans expect Rivera to be fired at some point, whether mid-season or after, and I don’t disagree that it’s probably deserved. This game certainly didn’t help his cause. The fact that the team came out completely flat, uninspired, and poorly prepared to start this game, and only briefly got things together in the second half, is primarily the fault of the coach. Rivera has mostly been a poor drafter and has achieved mediocre results on the field. That isn’t indicative of a successful long-term coach. I think there’s probably no point to firing him during the season, as it won’t help anything, but afterwards . . . it’s time for a change.
That’s it for this week. Let’s hope that Washington can somehow find their pride and do better next week against the Falcons in Atlanta.