Bears - Commanders odds and predictions: Who is the favorite in the NFL Thursday Night game?

We’ve got an NFC rumble on Thursday Night Football as Week 5 begins from FedEx Field in Arlington, Virginia. The Washington Commanders return home at .500 after losing their last two games, and they play host to the Chicago Bears who are one of only two winless teams remaining in the league.

It’s not the dream match up for a primetime game but this game is layered with storylines that will interest not just those in the Windy City and the Nation’s Capital.

Commanders surprising start

Not much was expected of the Washington Commanders this season. They made a change at the quarterback position, naming second year QB Sam Howell their starter. Howell has risen to the occasion and even led the Commanders to back-to-back victories to start the season. There was a buzz that started to circle FedEx Field, as people around the league wondered if Ron Rivera’s team was for real.

They were humbled against the Buffalo Bills, scoring just one field goal late in a game in which Howell was picked off four times and the Bills hung 37 on the Commanders at home. That buzz quickly died, and instead of excitement, it was a gray cloud of doubt that hovered over D.C. and with the Eagles on deck things could have got very ugly.

Last week, Washington showed they are a resilient bunch with a bounce back performance that almost led to the Eagles first loss of the season. They went blow-for-blow with Philly and a Sam Howell last second touchdown pass to Jahan Dotson forced the game to overtime. They would end up losing the game in OT, but taking the Eagles all the way to the final bell made a statement to the rest of the league.

Chicago’s nightmare start

The Bears have had a very different start to the season. This was a year in which there was supposed to be a changing of the winds in Chicago, but through four games it seems like the same ole story at Soldier Field.

Aside from being 0-4 through four weeks, they are dealing with off the field issues as much as they are with their deficiencies on the field. Matt Eberflus is having a rough go of it in his second year as the Bears head coach. He has essentially waged war on Chase Claypool, who the Chicago front office brought to Soldier Field in a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers last year. Claypool was told to not even come to the game last week and will sit out this week as well after speaking out about his team.

Claypool isn’t the only one who’s words brought about some backfire. Starting QB Justin Fields blamed the coaching staff on his “robotic” play before quickly taking that statement back. The players aren’t the only ones criticizing the coaching staff. The Chicago press has been all over the Bears, and only a few weeks ago the Bears defensive coordinator, Allan Williams, resigned from the team stating he was going to focus on taking care of his health and his family.

This is a franchise in a downward spiral after suffering two ugly loses over the last two weeks. After losing to the Bears and the Bucs in the first couple weeks of the season, they got blown out by the Chiefs at on time losing 41-0 in the third quarter before scoring a cheap 10 points by the end of the game.

Last week might have been even worse as they led the Broncos 28-7 late in the third quarter, but a series of errors including a Justin Fields fumble recovered for a touchdown allowed Denver to come storming back to tie the game with 6:55 on the clock. Fields and the Bears had a chance to take the lead with under three minutes to go, but on 4th and 1 from the DEN 18 yard line, Eberflus decided to go for it instead of kick the field goal and the Bears were stopped. Wil Lutz finished off the comeback bid with a 51 yard go ahead field goal that would seal the Broncos first victory of the season and sink the Bears to 0-4.

Odds and prediction

The Commanders are 6 point favorites against the winless Chicago Bears who pay +210 to win outright, while the Over/Under is set at 44.5.

The Bears have to figure something out and fast. Under the lights, on primetime, with America watching I think they will come out and give their best performance of the season, but I don’t think it will be enough to beat the Commanders. Washington showed us last week that they are a team that can hang with the big boys, and contain a potent offense with a running quarterback like Jalen Hurts. I think Ron Rivera has his defense ready to lock down Justin Fields and Sam Howell leads them to a 23-16 win.