The Washington Commanders embarrassed themselves in a 40-20 loss to the Chicago Bears on Thursday night. They fell behind 27-3 in the first half and finally started to come back in the second half to make things look somewhat respectable. But what’s interesting is what happened to the Commanders’ offense after they began to fall behind.
Pro Football Focus’ Nathan Jahnke says that the Commanders dropped back to pass 55 straight times to finish out the Week 5 game. They did that without one designed run.
The streak began on a 3rd-and-9 play at the Chicago 38 with 8:49 left in the second quarter.
The Washington Commanders dropped back to pass 55 straight times without a designed run tonight, from 8:49 in the 2nd quarter until the end of the game. That is the most for a team in game that PFF has data for (back to 2006)
— Nathan Jahnke (@PFF_NateJahnke) October 6, 2023
Commanders quarterback Sam Howell scrambled on a few occasions, but those are not designed runs, which explains the statistic.
Even though Washington fell behind in the game, not having one designed run is a heck of a strategy. It makes it a little easier for the defense when they don’t have to worry about one type of play coming.
Howell finished the game 37/51 for 388 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. As a team, Washington rushed 10 times for 29 yards. Howell rushed four times for 19 yards and Brian Robinson Jr. ran 6 times for 10 yards.
