Game Recap Week 6 – Chicago Bears at Washington Commanders

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October 14, 2025

By Noonefromtampa

Washington Miscues Lead to 25-24 Loss

First Quarter

Washington won the coin toss and deferred until the second half. Devin Duvernay returned the opening kickoff 26 yards out to the Chicago 30-yard line. D’Andre Swift ran off left tackle for 2 yards to start the drive. Caleb Williams hit Olamide Zaccheaus for a 10 yard gain. Luther Burden caught a 4 yard pass and then Swift picked up 19 yards on a 7 yard run and 12 yard catch. Kyle Monangai gained 6 yards off right tackle Swift was stopped for no gain by Johnny Netwon. On third down, Williams missed D.J. Moore to force a 47 yard field goal by Jake Moody, which was good giving the Bears a 3-0 lead.

After a touchback, Jacory Croskey-Merritt ran for 3 yard but on second down, Laremy Tunsil was called for a false start. Jayden Daniels completed a 13-yard pass to Chris Moore to pick up the first down. Daniels ran for two yards and then Montez Sweat was called for roughing the passer adding 15 yards and a first down.  Zack Ertz caught a 4 yard pass with Croskey-Merritt then gaining 3 yards. Deebo Samuel picked up the first down with a 4 yard reception. After Croskey-Merritt gained 5 yards, Daniels threw for Samuel in the end zone, but Jaquan Brisker undercut the route and intercepted the ball at the two.

After a 32 yard return, the next drive started with an incompletion but Williams hit Moore for 13 yards and two plays later for 17 yards. After an offensive pass interference call, the drive petered out and Moody hit a 48 yard field goal for a 6-0 Bears lead.

Washington’s next drive consisted of an illegal contact penalty on the Nahshon Wright of the Bears and a Croskey-Merritt fumbled.

Rome Odunze caught an 11 yard pass to start the drive, and Swift ran twice for 17 yards to end the quarter.

Second Quarter

Moore ran it down to the one where Williams scored on a keeper. The extra point was good giving the Bears a 13-0 lead.

Washington’s next drive was much better, starting with a 2 yard run by Croskey-Merritt. Moore had an 11 yard reception. Jaylin Lane ran for 7 yards on an end around on the right side. After Daniels was forced out for a 3 yard loss, Wright was called for a facemask penalty on Moore giving Washington 15 yards and first down. Daniels scrambled for 7 yards and Jeremy McNichols ran for 4 yards and the first down. After Daniels was sacked for a 7 yard loss, he found Moore in the end zone for 22 yard touchdown. Gay converted the extra point to cut the lead to 13-7.

Chicago had another drive with Swift providing the big plays with runs of 19 and 9 yards. The drive featured a challenge of a 1 yard completion which Washington won turning it into an incompletion, which made all the different. The Bears went for it on fourth and one after the challenge, but Frankie Luvu batted down the ball forcing a turnover on downs.

Croskey-Merritt was featured on the next four plays with a catch for 7 yards and runs for 4, 11 and 2 yards. After Daniels ran for no gain, he found Ertz for 10 yards and a first down. Samuel lost 2 yards on a screen and Ertz gained only 3 yards on his catch. Chicago came with a blitz forcing a checkdown to McNichols for a 2 ard gain. Gay hit the left upright with his 50 yard field goal attempt.

The Bears gained only 5 yards and Luvu got a 7 yard sack on the series forcing a punt. The punt was perfect and went out of bounds at the Washington 9 yard line. Daniels took a knee to end the half.

Third Quarter

Washington’s drive started at the forty after a 36 yard return by Luke McCaffrey. Ertz caught a pass for 9 yards and Croskey-Merritt ran for 7 yards avoiding being tackled in the backfield. After an incompletion, Daniels scrambled for 15 yards.  Croskey-Merritt ran for 4 yards and then Daniels was called for intentional grounding making it third and 16. A wide-open McNichols dropped a third down pass to force Gay to attempt a 53 yard field goal. This time it was through the middle of the uprights and the Bears lead was 13-10.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Bears were called for an illegal block in the back, which moved them back to their own 25. After an incompletion, Mike Sainristil was called for illegal contact. After a 7 yard run, Chicago got back-to-back big plays from Williams of 21 yards to Odunze and 37 yards to Burden. After a 4 yard run and an incompletion, Chicago had a touchdown nullified by an illegal formation call. Dorance Armstrong sacked Williams for a 7 yard loss. Moody hit the 41 yard field goal pushing the lead to 16-10.

Another good return by McCaffrey was negated by a blindside block penalty on Jordan Magee. Starting at their own 16, Croskey-Merritt ran for 8 yards and then 3 yards for the first down. Daniels scramble for 18 yards but lost 1 yard on the next play.  Samuel caught a 9 yard reception, but Moore dropped the third down pass. Electing to go for it, Daniels hit a open McNichols for 13 yards. After Croskey-Merritt ran for 1 yard, the Commanders ran what looked like a screen, but McCaffrey leaked deep and caught an unguarded pass for a 33 yard touchdown. The extra point was good, giving Washington their first lead of the game at 17-16.

After the kickoff return to the 23 yard line, Moore ran for 4 yards up the middle. Swift then ripped off a 14 yard gain and Monangai took a screen for 25 yards.  After an incompletion, Burden gained 9 yards on a short throw. Williams fumbled the poor snap resulting in a four-yard loss to end the quarter.

Fourth Quarter

Daron Payne blocked the 48 yard field goal attempt. This fired up the Commanders, who marched down the field behind a big play catch of 37 yards by Lane which put the team in the redzone. Ertz scored two plays later from 6 yard line on a beautiful throw between defenders by Daniels. Extra point was good again making the lead 24-16.

Washington was called for illegal formation, giving the Bears good field position. It took them just three plays to score with Swift breaking a tackle on a 55 yard touchdown reception. The officials seemed to miss a delay of game penalty which would have negated that play. The two-point conversion failed, making the Washington lead 24-22.

McCaffrey had another big return of 37 yards, but outside of a 15 yard roughing the passer penalty, Washington did not do much. Tress Way punted it away for the first time in the game, pinning the Bears at their own 9-yard line.

Moore lined up offsides which backed the Bears up 4 yards. Washington’s defense stopped the Bears for a two-yard loss on the next play, and a wide-open Zaccheaus dropped a pass. He picked 14 yards on third down but was well short of the first down.

Lane returned the punt 9 yards. Croskey-Merritt ran for 3 yards but on second down Daniels was sacked for 6 yard loss. McNichols caught a checked down but broke a tackle to pick up 15 yards and the first down. McNichols ran for 1 yard and then on a broken play Daniels ran for 8 yards to the Chicago 40 yard line. Daniels and Croskey-Merritt fumbled the exchange which was recovered by the Bears at the Chicago 44 yard line.

Outside of a 6 yard pass to Colston Loveland, Swift was featured quite a bit in this drive, running 5 times for 30 yards. This set up a field goal attempt of 38 yards with 3 seconds left. Moody nailed it for the win.

Thoughts

You don’t win games when you make a lot of mistakes.

Swift with a non-hold hold on Quan Martin during Williams keeper touchdown:

Daniels late and low with the throw:

Bill shouldn’t fumble but Andrew Wylie also can’t miss the recovery like this:

The officials missed a delay of game on the long Swift touchdown reception: