Daniels’ injury may prevent a rookie QB showdown vs. Williams when the Commanders host the Bears

ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — The matchup between the Chicago Bears and Washington Commanders will feature a quarterback selected with the first pick in the draft against one taken second.

What’s unclear is if it will be the showdown the NFL hoped for when this game was moved into the national television spotlight.

A rib injury to Jayden Daniels has thrown into uncertainty what was supposed to be a meeting between rookie QBs taken atop the draft leading teams that have exceeded preseason expectations. No. 1 pick Caleb Williams leads the Bears into his homecoming at Washington rolling along with three consecutive wins, while the Commanders are unsure if Daniels or journeyman Marcus Mariota will start Sunday.

Williams against Daniels would make this just the sixth time in the league’s common draft era that began in 1967 that QBs taken first and second have faced off the season after getting drafted.

“It really means nothing,” Mariota said with a laugh, nine years after he was the No. 2 pick and faced Jameis Winston in one of those previous games. “Jayden does a great job of kind of always being present. That’s very unique for somebody his age. I think he’s very much about the process and finding ways to get better, regardless of what the circumstance or situation is throughout the week.”

Williams is playing his first professional game in the area where he grew up, living in the District of Columbia as well as locations in suburban Maryland. He said he needed all of his allotted tickets.

“Since I left high school, I haven’t been back other than, I think, one or two times,” Williams said. “Being able to go back and share that experience, it’s going to be great. It’s going to be fun. To come out with the win is going to be most important.”

The Bears (4-2) are coming off their bye and have not lost since Sept. 22. Williams has thrown for seven touchdowns and just one interception over the past three games, growth that’s not surprising to Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, who coached Williams in his job as a senior analyst at Southern California last season.

“Just a tremendous competitor, wants to be great, works at it and just insane talent — some of the freaky (Patrick) Mahomes-tpe throws he can make and vision, extending plays, the things he can do,” Kingsbury said. “Freaky talent. Watching the stuff he’d do in practice and in the games, his ability, his feel — really, really special. He’s going to be one of the top guys in the league for a lot of years, so that was cool to get to spend time with him last year.”

Daniels has thrown for 1,410 yards and six TDs and run for four more to lead the Commanders (5-2) to the top of the NFC East. Williams has 1,317 yards passing and is not far behind in the race for AP Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Even with that competition, Commanders coach Dan Quinn said the prospect of facing Williams was not what was motivating Daniels to play.

“They’re not playing against one another,” Quinn said. “‘Anybody, anywhere, anytime’ is really the mindset for him. I think at his core, that’s one of the things I really admire about him is just his readiness, his wanting to go prove it.”

Monster Moore

Bears receiver DJ Moore had a monster game in Week 5 at Washington last year. He caught eight passes and set career highs with 230 yards and three touchdowns, helping Chicago stop a 14-game losing streak with a 40-20 win.

Fair to say Moore was ready for the questions this week.

“Uh, I knew somebody was going to ask me that last night,” he said. “I was like, ’Eh, do I say the real answer or do I just like come up with something politically correct?’”

How about both?

“All right. So, yeah, I think about it. Two-hundred-thirty don’t go out your mind when you’re playing a team from last year. But it’s a new year, and they’ve got new people, some new people, so we’ll see what happens.”

Moore had just about all of former Chicago quarterback Justin Fields’ 282 yards passing in last year’s game. He was the only Bears receiver with a touchdown.

Moore has 314 yards this season after setting a career high with 1,364 in 2023. But the Bears have a deeper wide receiver group, after trading for six-time Pro Bowler Keenan Allen and drafting Rome Odunze with the No. 9 pick.

Fowler fest

The third pick in 2015 after Winston and Mariota was edge rusher Dante Fowler, who now is part of Washington general manager Adam Peters’ roster overhaul that includes six new starters on defense. Fowler picked off Andy Dalton last week for his first career interception, which he returned 67 yards for a pick-6.

“(Fowler) had an interception in the same part of the field in practice,” defensive coordinator Joe Whitt said. “He didn’t go score with it, so we put it up there, ‘Hey, you’re going to have opportunity on this call to go score’ and it happened in the same area and he scored with it.”

Fowler leads the Commanders with 4 1/2 sacks, and his presence allows the secondary to be better in coverage.

“He’s always going to run through people, and if I tell him to run through that wall, he’s going to hit it hard,” Whitt said. “He has real juice to be able to get to the quarterback and move the quarterback. He’s a guy that I don’t necessarily have to pressure with when he’s on the field.”

Surging Bears

Chicago comes in with three consecutive wins and its best record through six games since starting 5-1 in 2020.

The Bears are on their best run since Weeks 14-16 that year. They haven’t won four in a row since taking the final four games of the 2018 regular season.

One thing to keep in mind about this run: None of Chicago’s wins came against an opponent that currently has a winning record. The teams it beat — Tennessee in the season opener and the Los Angeles Rams, Carolina and Jacksonville — are a combined 6-20. The losses were in Weeks 2 and 3 at Houston (5-2) and Indianapolis (4-3).

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AP Sports Writer Andrew Seligman in Lake Forest, Illinois, contributed to this report.

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