Five big takeaways from Chicago Bears’ win over Washington Commanders in Week 5

LANDOVER, Md. – DJ Moore woke up nervous on Thursday morning.

He’s not quite sure why, but he hopes it happens again because he went wild in Thursday night’s Bears win, 40-20, against the Washington Commanders at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.

The losing streak is over. The longest losing streak in Bears history ends at 14 games. The Bears picked up their first win of the season, moving to 1-4, and their first win since Oct. 24, 2022.

Obviously, Moore stole the show, scoring three touchdowns and totaling 230 receiving yards. There’s plenty more on his big night here, and more on that later. Below are the five big takeaways from Thursday night’s win.

[ DJ Moore takes over, Chicago Bears snap 14-game losing streak with win over Washington ]

1. Justin Fields, Bears offense turning a corner?

Let’s start big picture.

The Bears offense totaled 451 yards, marking the second straight game over 450 yards of offense. Justin Fields threw for 282 yards with four touchdowns (three went to Moore), with no interceptions and three sacks. The offensive line is getting healthy and looking better. The Bears rushed for 178 yards Thursday, eclipsing Sunday’s effort for a new season high.

Are the Bears turning a corner? Don’t overthink it, Bears fans. Enjoy this win for a day. Worry about the big picture later. Yes, these two big games came against two bad defenses in Denver and Washington. But the numbers are the numbers.

For a few nights, Fields will be tied for the NFL lead in passing touchdowns with Kirk Cousins at 11. He has now played one more game than any other QB, so that might not last through the weekend.

Fields has thrown eight touchdown passes in the span of four days. Bears fans have been waiting a long time for a quarterback to do that.

2. More on Moore’s epic night

Moore finished 19 receiving yards shy of matching Alshon Jeffery’s single-game Bears record of 249 receiving yards, set Dec. 1, 2013 against Minnesota.

He likely could’ve had it, too, if he didn’t have another play stopped when the ref called him out of bounds along the sideline. Moore’s foot was close to the sideline, but the ref probably should’ve let them play on and reviewed the play afterward. It also wiped away what would’ve been a fourth touchdown for Moore.

Even so, the stat line is still bonkers: eight catches for 230 yards and three touchdowns. Moore became the first Bears receiver to total 200 receiving yards since Jeffery did it twice in 2013. This was just the fifth 200-yard receiving game from a Bears player ever.

Moore said he was telling his teammates “please don’t tell me” how many yards he had on the sideline. He wanted to lock up the win first.

Fields couldn’t believe how the Commanders were guarding Moore.

“It makes my job easier,” Fields said. “They left him one-on-one more times than I thought they would tonight. When you have him one-on-one, he’s going to win 95% of the time.”

3. Offensive line is coming together

Key to all this success has been the improved play of the Bears offensive line. Left guard Teven Jenkins returned Thursday, although on a limited snap count. Center Lucas Patrick went out with a concussion, but the Bears shifted Cody Whitehair to center for the remainder of the game. With Nate Davis back at right guard, the Bears have looked solid the past two weeks.

The vaunted Commanders defensive line looked pedestrian in the first half against the Bears.

“O-line did their thing vs. the dominant D-line,” Fields said. “They showed out.”

Left tackle Braxton Jones is still out with a back injury, but the Bears had four of their original five starters during portions of the game on Thursday. Over the last two weeks, the pass protection has been good. The blocking in the run game was high-level stuff, especially in the first half. Running back Khalil Herbert was finding big holes and making big gains before a defender even touched him. He finished with 76 yards but left with an injury.

“Even seeing Darnell [Wright] pancake somebody, Nate pancake somebody, it sparks everything and everybody else keeps going and pushing,” Jenkins said.

4. Turnovers change the tide

Yannick Ngakoue has been saying that sacks come in bunches. On Thursday, they did. The Bears totaled five sacks. Ngakoue had one of his own.

On top of that, the defense had one interception and forced a fumble. The turnovers marked the first takeaways for the Bears defense that didn’t come in garbage time against the Chiefs a few weeks ago.

Slot corner Greg Stroman Jr. might’ve had the game of his life. He jumped a route for the interception, got a hand in to force the fumble and recorded a sack. He was playing against a Commanders team that drafted him in 2018, but cut him three years later.

The turnovers and sacks made life hard on Washington. Quarterback Sam Howell entered the day leading the NFL in sacks allowed. Through five games, he’s now up to 29 sacks. On Stroman’s sack, he ran in unblocked.

“That was my first sack, so that was cool,” Stroman said. “The one that I got home, that was an awesome call. They weren’t expecting it.”

Stroman grew up in Warrenton, Virginia, and played college ball at Virginia Tech. So Thursday was a homecoming for him.

“This is his crib,” safety Jaquan Brisker said after the game. “This is his home.”

5. Dick Butkus was watching from above

Bears legend Dick Butkus died earlier in the day on Thursday at age 80. Read more on Butkus, a true legend of the game, here. The Commanders held a moment of silence for Butkus prior to the game.

It was fitting that he died on a night when the Bears were playing, and that the Bears pulled out a win for him. The players learned just in the last hour or two before kickoff that Butkus had died. He was a larger-than-life figure who players today still look up to.

“Obviously a legend in our building and a legend in the NFL,” tight end Cole Kmet said.

Head coach Matt Eberflus said he met with Butkus several times since becoming Bears head coach and always cherished those conversations.

“He was one of my idols growing up being a linebacker,” Eberflus said.