Matchups and predictions for the Eagles NFC East Rivals in Week 5 of the 2023 NFL season
- The Eagles are kings who stay Kings
- The Giants are embarrassing
- The Commanders might be good, but not good enough
- This week marks the official start of Dak's interception era
By Jake Beckman
Bears offense versus Commanders defense
Remember that time when James Jones and LeSean McCoy got into it over whether Jalen Hurts or Justin Fields was the more talented quarterback? Phew… buddy… It wasn't a great look for James Jones.
Watch Shady shine here. You really love to see it.
.@89JonesNTAF Is cooking 👨🏾🍳
— Speak (@SpeakOnFS1) August 18, 2023
“This is disrespectful to Justin Fields… His arm talent is better than Jalen Hurts. He’s faster, more explosive, his running ability is better than Jalen Hurts." pic.twitter.com/PzUPzjK0AU
Justin Fields is very bad at his job. The Bears’ vibes went from, ‘We’re going to build a franchise around this guy’ to ‘Let’s tank for Caleb Williams’ in FOUR WEEKS. What an incredible pivot. Chicago is a dumpster fire from top to bottom.
Justin Fields looked stunned in the locker room. Still had his uniform on about 30 minutes after the end of the game. Most of his teammates were gone. Fields was sitting at his locker just staring off.
— Sean Hammond (@sean_hammond) October 1, 2023
Now their offensive line is going to have to block the Commanders’ defensive front. We saw what these guys are capable of firsthand. Edge rusher Chase Young made Jordan Mailata put in work. Here's the thing. Jordan Mailata is much better than Bears tackle Larry Borom.
Fields can scramble and he’s pretty good at it once he gets into space. In order for him to do that, however, he needs to find that space. He’s had some really really poor pocket presence this year, and this game is going to exacerbate those issues.
Again, this Commanders’ defensive line is good, but they lack depth. They’re going to put pressure on Fields. Washington's lack of depth shouldn’t really show its face until late in the game, but this one will probably be over by then.
The Commanders’ defensive backs aren’t too terrible. Yeah, we just saw them get eaten alive by the Eagles’ wide receiver corps, but they’re playing some of the best receiving corps league-wide.
Over the past two weeks, rookie cornerback Emmanuel Forbes Jr. has had to cover Buffalo Bills star Stefon Diggs AND A.J. Brown. This week, he has D.J. Moore duty. D.J. is talented, but this is a vacation compared to the hell he’s gone through recently.
Prediction: Commanders -5.5
Plain and simple, the Bears are much worse than the Commanders. There’s a chance the Bears look frisky for a minute or two, probably during their first 15 plays, but after that Washington will come out on top.
‘Any given Sunday’ is a phrase people like to throw around. Here, 'any given Sunday' better applies, but the Bears have no shot in this one.