I have faded my Bears pretty much all season ... but I guess just to say I backed them once here we are. No Logan Thomas or Jahan Dotson for the Commanders (that's still weird) and now reports are that Carson Wentz is dealing with a biceps tendon strain suffered in last week’s loss to Tennessee and is not 100 percent. He'll play through it. The Bears are very healthy and get back top cornerback Jaylon Johnson from injury. I'll be totally honest: I want the Bears to lose this game and all the rest so they can pick No. 1 in next year's draft and get Alabama linebacker Will Anderson (or CJ Stroud depending on how Justin Fields does the rest of the way). But that's probably not going to happen.

Washington has lost four straight since a 6-point home win over Jacksonville, and coach Ron Rivera just threw his quarterback under the bus, inadvertently or not. I don't like this Commanders team at all and have yet to back them this season. However, I do like them to finally snap their skid at Chicago. Washington has forced one turnover in five games despite having a solid defense. The turnovers could begin to come Thursday. The Commanders held Derrick Henry to 3.6 yards per carry and the Cowboys' running backs to 2.1 ypc. They'll slow down the Bears' run-based attack, and Wentz will redeem himself with a few big plays. Perhaps the biggest reason to back Washington is the absence of highly-paid corner William Jackson (back injury, poor play). After he got benched in Sunday's narrow loss to Tennessee, the Commanders allowed 3.6 yards per play over the next 48 plays.

I've held for basically the entire year that the Bears are the NFL's worst team, but I'm starting to come around on them. They might not have a passing game, or an offensive line, or a strong defense, but they've only been manhandled once all year. They played their last two opponents close on the road and both those teams are now 4-1. I think that's a credit to a coaching staff that may be solid, which is more than I can say for the group in Washington. I think the gap is small enough between these teams that Chicago should be slight favorites at home on a short week, so I'm going to play them here and hope coaching wins out.

The bar was low, but Justin Fields of Chicago finally looked like a pro QB on Sunday, completing 15-of-21 passes. The Bears found a bit of balance offensively, and the short week gives Washington little time to figure out how to combat it. Similarly, Fields’ counterpart, Carson Wentz, must quickly shake off his devastating game-ending intercepted pass. Chicago is 2-0 outright at Soldier Field, Washington 0-2 on the road with four consecutive straight-up setbacks overall. It's hard to side with a team sporting those numbers, regardless of the quality of its opponent.