NFL Week 5 Thursday Night Football: Bears at Commanders I FULL PREVIEW I CBS Sports

performance could not get the dub there against the Broncos. Yeah, he was great for like the first three quarters and then we saw whatever the hell that was like a backwards pass thing that went for a touchdown. We got Lijai Dhusibal, we've got Bryant McFadden preview of tonight's game. There are murmurs in Chicago that if this weren't a short week, Lijai, that some changes would have been made potentially to the head coach, potentially in the front office. If they don't win tonight after that disaster last weekend, a 15th straight loss, do you think we could see some wholesale changes in Chicago? I think we might see them regardless whether they win or lose. And then if you look at it, you talked about it has, you can't lose 14 straight games in the NFL and your job not be on the hot seat. Let's just break this down before we even talk about the offensive side and Justin Fields. Matt Eber flutes is a defensive minded coach in 2022. The Bears gave up over 27 points per game that ranked 32nd in the NFL. Not sure if you guys know this, there's only 32 teams in the NFL this year. We did know that this year is even worse. They're giving up 34 points per game. So again, you can say what you want about Justin Fields, not developing in the offense, not coming out, hitting on all cylinders. You're a defensive minded coach. This is your calling card and your defense has been atrocious. So he's on the hot seat regardless of whether they win or lose. And if they win, will it quell some of the noise? Maybe a little bit. But again, when that's your calling card and you guys are not playing well on that side of the ball, it doesn't help you keep your job. Now going to Justin Fields, I think some of the blame is on him, but it's also on Luke gets in. We saw this a little bit last year through the first four weeks of the season, they tried to make him a prototypical, you know, pocket passer. That's not what Justin Fields does. And they did the same thing in the beginning of this year. Last week versus Denver Broncos. I mean, that is a great team to get your offense right against because we saw them give up 70 verse the Miami Dolphins. He was good. He got on the edge. They got him out in the open, throwing the ball on the move. And you know this be Mac when you're quarterback and you get confidence, you can start making all the throws in the world. I believe he started the game 16 of 16 last week. And then you talked about it right? Has at the end of that game, those two boneheaded turnovers, you can just not have those. Yeah. And that's why I want to start right there with Justin Fields being smart with the football. They had everything right there for the taking until those turnovers happen. You have to take what the defense is giving you and Bill Carr used to tell us all the time in Pittsburgh. He specifically speak to the offense. I'm okay. And putting the football, sometimes putting the football is a good thing because you don't have to force the issue because when you force the issue, you allow turnovers, you create turnovers and sometimes that can be the momentum. The opposing teams need to jumpstart a huge win. And that's what we saw with the Denver Broncos. Now let's transition back to the man of the hour. Matt Eber flutes. Leger. You talked about the Chicago Bears currently being involved in the middle of a 14 game losing streak. Let me be a little more specific. The last time the Chicago Bears won a ball game, you have to go back to a year ago, 2022 October the 24th against the New England Patriots. That's almost a year. We're in October right now. They've lost 14 straight ballgames. The last time they won was in the month of October in 2022. Now, when you factor in how difficult it is to win in the National Football League, a football league, it's very, very difficult. But when you talk about having talent, it's not like the cupboard is bare there in Chicago. They have talent. They've added pieces to the puzzle. They spent a lot of money and they're still losing ballgames. And then also to the last thing I'll say, Matt Eber flutes. His seat needs to be extremely hot for not taking kicking the field goal a year last week, because if he kicked the field goal, I'm not necessarily saying they win the ballgame, but he puts more pressure on the Broncos to score to kick a field goal to at least tie the ballgame deciding to go for it. And he said, I thought we had the best play dialed up for that ballgame. I'll say this time and time again. Dick Lebow told me in practice when I blew a coverage, he said, be Mac. I thought will get me and you fired. You better know because we're in a no league. You don't go out there saying, Well, I thought it would work. I think it would work. No, you better know. And clearly not knowing for sure caused them a huge, huge loss. And that's why we're currently talking about him extremely being on the hot seat. And guys, despite that disastrous performance from the Bears, Justin Fields, we saw him returning to Justin Fields like behavior there over 300 passing yards for passing touchdowns. I know be Mac had mentioned taking care of the football, but leisure in your opinion, how can Justin Fields build upon that against the commanders? I mean, playing the Denver Broncos defense will always help you look good. But also, if you look at the commander's defense, they're giving it up to guys are giving up 30 points per game. So if you're Justin Fields, you got to do what you did last week, right? Luke gets he helped this kid out, get him on the edge down to one play where he did fumble that ball. You were talking about to be Mac. That was a bootleg. You have to understand in that place. Sometimes the defense just wins the rep, right? Just go down with a sack. Don't try to throw the ball when somebody's hitting you and then you cause a fumble. But Luke gets he did a really good job getting him on the edge. And then there was some busted busted coverage. You see it right here. Cole commit is wide open. You see the Denver Bronco players talking to each other miscommunication. But this is what we saw him on the edge. And then right here, I think he's about to go out of bounds and he just flips it to call commit. So continue to get him on the edge. He only had four rushes last week. I think they need to up that number to eight rushes. A quarterback design runs because when he gets comfortable running the ball, he gets more comfortable throwing it down the field. Again, when you get him some easy completions, then he feels like he can make completions from in the pocket and lean on D. J. More. There was a reason they traded the first round pick for him. Continue to lean on your number one receiver. And for me, I'm okay seeing and witnessing backyard football with Justin Fields in tonight's game. You talked about getting him on the edge, getting getting him in space. I think that's where he he's at his best. And clearly he seems to be more comfortable when he when he gets those opportunities. So I understand you want to dial up plays and you want to have rhythm like plays. But no, allow him to go ahead and make things happen. Improvise. You know how I used to play when he was a kid in the yard and you dial up, draw up, plays in the yard and say, Hey, you run here and just run around. And when you open, I'll throw you the football. I'm okay. You're seeing that because at this point they have nothing else to do. Everything else they've tried is failed. So right now you want to run around and buy time for your wide receivers to get open. Justin Fields do so because everything else you guys have been doing, it has not been working. All right, gentlemen, and that brings us to easy choice presented by Geico. When it comes to an X factor for this matchup, the Mac will start with you. What do you keep in your eye on? I'm keeping my eye on the commander starting quarterback Sam Howard. He is my X X factor. And here's why. When you factor in how bad the Chicago Bears defense has been in 44 ball games, it puts a lot of pressure to continue to make the Chicago Bears defense look bad. Look at these numbers, right? The four quarterbacks, the Chicago Bears have faced Jordan Love, 15 to 27 to 45. Three touchdowns. Baker Mayfield, 26 to 34 3 17. One touchdown. Pat Mahomes, 24 30 of 33 to 72. Three touchdowns. Russell Curley, Harold Wilson, 21 28 to 23. Three touchdowns in four ball games. They have allowed 10 passing touchdowns combined from quarterbacks. They face. So somehow this is a get right opportunity for you. You know, usually when you play high school football, homecoming is an opportunity for you to showcase who you are as a team as an individual because you're playing as a team that probably is not good. This is like a homecoming opportunity for Sam. How, based on the numbers, the Chicago Bears have given up to opposing quarterbacks. So he is my X factor for him. It's imperative for him to continue to do the same things these opposing quarterbacks have done against the Chicago Bears, and that brought them wins for their respectable organizations. So that's the X factor for me. He is the X factor for me. Mr Sam, how I'm looking for anywhere between three passing touchdowns and at least 230 yards passing. You make. I like that pick. I really love how Sam Howe played last week versus the Philadelphia Eagles after throwing four interceptions versus the Buffalo Bills last week. He was cool, calm, collective and in the pocket. And when they needed him, the biggest parts of the game, right? Third and 17 through a 15 yard pass down the middle to get it to fourth and two and then uses mobility to throw it to Johan Dotson for a first down, then found Johan Dotson with no time left for a touchdown to tie that game up and send it into overtime. I'm gonna go his teammate in the backfield and it's not Brian Robinson. I'm going Antonio Gibson. You talked about how bad this Bears defense is, right? They are extremely bad at covering backs out of the backfield. Just look at week one versus Aaron Jones took 150 plus to the house on an angle route out of the backfield. We saw Jared McKinnon get to receiving touchdowns first them just a few weeks ago. Jalil McLaughlin had a field day with this team catching the ball out of the backfield on screens. I believe Antonio Gibson will get a few screens and have a pretty big day for the commander. He is my X factor for the commanders versus Bears game tonight. All right. B. Mac Lee J. Previewing thursday night football. Things kick off at 8 15 eastern from FedEx field. Thank you so much guys. We appreciate it. And of course you can hear more B. Mac alongside Pat P. On their podcast. All things covered in the latest episode. They're talking about the Steelers tough loss to Houston. You can download and listen wherever you get your pods or you can scan that QR code on your screen. Check out the fellas there on sports line and Katie mocks. E. K. Emery always give you your best bets. Make sure you check in Wednesdays at six p.m. Eastern right here on CBS Sports HQ.