In a game marred by murky weather and worse officiating, Ben Johnson’s Bears came away with a Win in a nail-biter against the Commanders. Here are @BryanOrenchuk ‘s notes.
Oct 14, 2025, 11:30 AM UTC
Our Notes column is always more fun after a Chicago Bears win, so let’s get to it!
* D’Andre. Swift.
* Shout out to the Offensive Line for putting forth a very respectable effort, especially in the run game, opening up lanes for Swift and Monangai all night.
* Loved the rhythm on the opening drive, which has been a consistent all season under Ben Johnson. Mix of run and pass with crisp execution in a hostile environment on the road in primetime - happy to come away with 3 even though 7 was possible were it not for a miscue by Burden on 3rd down.
* Caleb was off with his accuracy all night. Underthrew Rome deep a couple times, missed Olamide a couple times and made his WRs earn their paychecks on others.
* Zaccheus, with an absolutely back-breaking drop late in this one, almost doomed the team.
* We have a rookie TE who is a freak athlete. Explosive and spry. Yet we still throw a TE screen to lumbering Cole Kmet?! Please. No.
* Tick Tack penalties ALL night against both sides of the ball, but ruined some drives and took points off the board here. The illegal formation penalty on Benedet erasing a Rome TD was insane. Even the ridiculously biased anti-Bears announcers thought so.
* Luther Burden III looks loose out there! Need to get him on the field more.
* Loveland with a couple of clutch catches of his own, but Burden looks like the first-rounder.
* Saw Roschon Johnson in this one! 1 carry for 6 yards and should have handed it to him on at least one other short yard conversion. Good to see.
* D’Andre Swift gets a lot of heat around here, and he showed tonight that when he gets any daylight, he can be dangerous. Swift was the MVP on Monday Night. Hands down.
* Soft pass coverage early and often Monday night, and Jayden picked us apart multiple times with a couple of big shots taken by blown coverage or 50/50 balls.
* Did I mention penalties? Some absolute tick-tack calls on the D in this one. One 1st half on Montez Sweat and another on Nashon Wright.
* Speaking of Sweat, he had another inspired performance in this one, both against Jayden in the pass and against the run, especially late against the run to help close out the game. His pass deflection was clutch.
* Speaking of Wright, he had a rough outing and was seemingly picked on all night, but his fumble recovery in the 4th sealed the game.
* I thought the Defensive Line played solid all night. Some good pressure against Jayden that didn’t convert to sacks, but you had one of the most elusive QBs of all time back there and the DL made an impact.
* Shout out to Dennis Allen for the variety of pressure calls.
* Shout out to Jaquan Brisker for the HUGE redzone INT which was Daniels’ first pick of the entire season.
* Shemar Turner got his most extensive playing time Monday night and my eyes tell me he played more at DE than DT. Perhaps that’s an answer to the poor run D? Either way, me likey.
* DomRob with another sack on the season! I did not think he would make the roster but homeboy has earned it. Though I hope to never see him in coverage one on one against a RB again on 4th down.
* You know who had the other half of that DomRob sack? Gervon Dexter Sr., who had his best game of the year, IMO.
* Kyler had some big hits in the run game, but not as much of an impact as I had hoped in the pass game.
* T.J. Edwards looked a step behind - hopefully that is the Jayden Daniels effect.
* I thought the D holding the Commanders to 3 points to start the 2nd half was huge. And then a busted coverage TD really sucked.
* Jake Moody! I think I was the only person excited when we signed the former 3rd rounder from Michigan to the practice squad once he was cut from the 49ers, but the kid has a strong leg and has performed well in bad weather in big games. He showed it Monday night, too! Four for five, including three 40+ yarders with one blocked, is one hell of a first impression.
* Oh, and I predicted he would kick the game winner on Wednesday on [Bears Over Beers](/chicago-bears-news/100163/bears-over-beers-chicago-looks-for-revenge-against-commanders)! I predicted a 26-24 victory, so I guess you can’t win ‘em all!
* Tory Taylor with another CLUTCH punt in this one. Kid looks like we finally have the most dependable punter since Brad Maynard.
* The kick return and kickoff coverage units do NOT look right. Got gashed and beat all night there.
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