Thursday Night Football: Can the Commanders stay in NFC East contention by beating the Bears?

The Chicago Bears head to FedEx field to take on the Washington Commanders in a nationally televised game Thursday night. The Commanders are coming off a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, but showed heart as they came back from behind and forced overtime against arguably the best team in the NFC. Meanwhile the Bears had a heartbreaking loss to the Denver Broncos, where they seen a 28-7 lead be erased in the second half, losing 31-28.

The Commanders are currently a 6-point favorite over the Bears, according to DraftKings Sportsbook. We have been using Tallysight to get our picks in each week, so sign up at Tallysight for submitting your own bets.

Chicago just can’t seem to get out of their own way, even when having success, the team seems to inevitably shoot themselves in the foot. The only plus side to the Bears season so far is that they currently hold both the first overall pick, as well as the second overall, due to their trade with the Carolina Panthers this past offseason.

The Washington Commanders are in a much different spot, with the feeling of a team on the upswing in the thick of a tight NFC East division. While they lost last week, they battled until the very end and second-year QB Sam Howell is starting to look like a legitimate starting quarterback with 961 yards passing this season and four touchdowns. While you would like to see his turnovers come down - he currently has five interceptions - he has shown an ability to make clutch throws at big moments and he’s only started five games total in his career so far, so he still has plenty of learning to do.

I am taking the Bears to cover the 6 point spread, however I am taking Washington to win the game in a 27-24 type matchup. I think while this game will be competitive, Washington just has more on offense with Terry McLaurin and Brian Robinson than the Bears have on defense. Meanwhile Chicago’s offensive line has struggled, while Washington has gotten to the QB this year and are currently ranked eighth in the NFL with 13 sacks.

Given that I think this will be a close game, and both the Bears and Commanders scored over 28 points each last week, I am taking the over in this game as well.