Eric Martinez
Thursday night football 4th quarter defensive stop lifts Commanders over Bears 12-7
The promotion for this game was hyped about the notion that starting quarterback for the Washington Commanders was undefeated on Thursday Night Football with his previous teams (Colts and Eagles). Coming into TNF Wentz was 5-0. The matchup was set for the 2-3 Chicago Bears set to host the 1-4 Washington Commanders. If you read most social media posts throughout the week, many were predicting a low scoring game full of possible turnovers. It’s very rare that the predictions are accurate as this game only had a total of 4 scoring plays.
With the first quarter winding down, the television panned towards Bears’ fans in the stands with a look of disapproval as the score read 0-0. The second quarter had more of the same as both teams combined first half saw a total of 7 total punts, a loss of downs by the Chicago Bears, an interception thrown by Bear’s quarterback, Justin Fields, and a field goal by the Commanders to take a 3-0 lead into halftime. Needless to say, the conversation at halftime was about the struggle to find the end zone. Will there be a touchdown in this game or not?
The Bears connected for a touchdown late in the 3rd quarter when Justin Fields sent a deep 40-yard pass to Dante Pettis. Bear’s fans sighed a breath of relief taking a 7-3 lead. The Commanders responded with a field goal to cut the lead 7-6 with 7 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. The remainder of the game stayed the same until Commanders drove down the field and returning running back, Brian Robinson, scored his first NFL touchdown to take a 12-7 lead. Washington failed the two-point attempt. It is significant to many Commanders’ fans and to those that know the story of Brian Robinson that was shot earlier this year and there was a time that the concern was about Brian’s life let alone ever playing in the NFL. Robinson ended the night with 60 rushing yards, 1 touchdown on 17 attempts.
Washington missed a field goal with 39 seconds left in the game to give the Bears a chance to win the game. Justin Fields made plays in spite of an offensive line that could not protect him the entire night. His drive at the end of the game had the Bears to the goal line and gave wide receiver, Darnell Mooney a chance to make the play to win the game, however the football was bobbled and caught eventually, but came up half a yard short with the time running out.
Washington won their second game and will host Green Bay Packers next Sunday, while Bears lose their 4th game and head to New England to play on Monday Night Football against the Patriots. It’s worth noting quarterback of the Washington Commanders, Carson Wentz, played mistake free football with 0 turnovers and threw for 12 of 22 passing attempts and 99 total yards. “It was huge. We’ve been on a skid lately, we’ve been in some tough games, had some tough go’s with it. This one was huge,” Wentz expressed to the media after the game. A defensive game, that was highlighted by a feel-good story for Brian Robinson’s return captured the second win for the Washington Commanders.
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