The Washington Commanders paid a $6 million insurance policy when they signed veteran quarterback Marcus Mariota as the QB2 on the depth chart behind Jayden Daniels. The team will be cautious with Daniels who suffered an unspecified rib injury last Sunday in the first quarter.
Head coach Dan Quinn and General Manager Adam Peters are doing their best to keep everyone guessing — and today should tell us for sure if Mariota will start on Sunday against the Bears. The full details on the injured rib remains a mystery. Daniels did not practice yesterday.
The showdown that everyone circled on their calendars to see Chicago’s rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, the No. 1 draft pick, against Daniels who was the No. 2 pick in the same draft, probably won’t be happening. The game was flexed as the national game for CBS on Sunday as their late game. This could have added more to the competition for the offensive Rookie of the Year award that has Daniels clearly in front.
However, Williams will face a Heisman Trophy winner and No. 2 draft pick — just from a different era, way back in 2015, named Mariota. The Commanders have to think big picture here than gamble on one regular season game to end October. The Vegas lines have changed from an optimistic slight favorite pick for the Commanders at home at Northwest Stadium to a +2.5 point underdog last night. Besides the Eagles/Bengals game (2 point spread), this game in Landover, Maryland on Sunday is the tightest betting line of the week.
Regardless of what the bettors think, Mariota has five offensive Player of the Week awards and in November 2016, he was the Player of the Month. While he has bounced around as a backup, he feels confident that he can do his job as the starter if needed.
“If [Jayden] doesn’t feel like he’s ready to roll, I’m here to help. I want him to understand that, and feel comfortable with that.”
— Mariota said after practice yesterday at the media session
Mariota turns 31 next week. If he starts on Sunday, he knows he is just a placeholder. Really all that matters is that whoever starts has to play to win. Chicago is 4-2 on the season and coming off a bye week. The NFC North is fierce this season with Chicago in last place with that record. They have had an easy schedule and haven’t faced one team yet in their division which is unusual at this point in the season.
The Bears head coach, Matt Eberflus, has a good defense, maybe pumped up by playing teams like Carolina, Jacksonville, and Tennessee. They got beat by the Houston Texans, the best team they have faced this year, and their other loss was against the Colts. Of course the Commanders want to follow what the Texans did to the Bears, and you see that Houston held the Bears to just 71 rushing yards, 44 by Williams. So yes, the Commanders defense have to keep an eye on Williams to contain him when he decides to run, and confuse him on passing plays and defend D.J. Moore well, and beat the Bears by dominating on defense.
You don’t want Mariota feeling like he has to do it all. Accept the fact that the Bears have a good defense averaging 2.16 takeaways a game. The Bears defense is good regardless of the competition they have faced. They rank 5th in the NFL at 292 yards of offense allowed per game. So regardless of Daniels or Mariota starting, this was set up to be a close game.
Today is another practice day. The media will get their 20-minutes at 1pm to see if Daniels is practicing. We will go from there.
