Chicago Bears report card for most impressive road win in a decade

It's obvious the Bears are building a culture where they believe they can come back even when things don't go exactly as planned.

"Being able to come out with a win is big for us," quarterback Caleb Williams said. "That's a hell of a team over there (Washington). So being able to come out victorious in a dog fight where things weren't perfect, the weather wasn't perfect, being able to come out victorious is big for us."

Of such things big seasons are made.

Here are Bears grades for a third straight victory, one flawed, exciting and definitely satisfying after the way they had left the same field in a game decided on the final play a year earlier.

Passing: B+

A few drops, including one by Olamide Zaccheaus, held back the attack. He might have broken a short pass for a TD simply by catching one in the open field while wide open. It would have been even bigger had officials called Theo Benedet for a phantom penalty on a touchdown catch by Rome Odunze. Penalties, justified or otherwise, seemed to plague the Bears all night. The pass blocking again held up for Williams and while he missed a wide open Kyle Monangai trying for the tie on a two-point conversion, his ability to move the ball around to seven receivers and especially set up the screen game proved huge.

Running: A

The running attack looked the best it has all year, even better than on the 19-play drive in the third quarter during their win over Dallas. D'Andre Swift's 14 carries for 108 yards and 175 total yards provided the big-play threat to spread out the defense. Swift was getting clean holes from the offensive line, and they had bit of a power punch as well with 25 yards from Kyle Monangai and Roschon Johnson.

Pass defense: C+

Giving up too many big plays on blown coverages nearly cost them, as Wright got vicitimized for a 33-yard touchdown by Luke McCaffrey and Kyler Gordon a 22-yarder to Chris Moore. Stopping Daniels' running essentially was part of their pass defense as they tried to keep him in the pocket, and holding him to 34 yards on nine carries was a good example of their containment approach. However, he had one other big run for 18 yards when he escaped because Montez Sweat and Andrew Billings collided. Still, Jaquan Brisker's interception was a rarity as no one else had picked off Daniels this year, and limiting Daniels to 211 yards passing were both pluses.

Run defense: A-

A 124-yard rushing game might not seem like A material but that was the No. 1 rushing team in the NFL and the Bears didn't just make stops on the run, they made the big stops and came up with two huge fumble recoveries. Wright made up for his mistakes in pass coverage with the recovery to set up the winning points on Daniels' fumbled handoff attempt while Sweat had an excellent Peanut punch in the first half to knock out a ball.

Special teams: B-

Jake Moody's low field goal try was blocked but the big one was perfect at the end and so were three more in tough field conditions for a kicker, especially for a backup kicker. Two Tory Taylor punts for a 53-yard average accounted for what his leg did but he did a marvelous job of handling the ball in the rain on Moody's field goals, including on one higher snap. Bears kick coverage failed miserably and let Luke McCaffrey average 31.8 yards on kick returns, including a key 37-yarder.

Coaching: A

Ben Johnson very early during the bye week talked about how they had to get both the running game and screen game going because both had been bad. Both were keys to winning this one and it was obvious they spent their time well on self-scout as both aspects of their attack looked better than they have all year. Dennis Allen's mix of blitzes and coverages seemed to have Daniels off balance, especially early in the game, and his rush men stressed containment as they held the Washington QB in check while picking him off once.

Overall: A-

Johnson's team may have just proven they've arrived by winning a road game over a good team, and despite the worst officiating this side of Tony Corrente. Beating a mediocre team like Raiders on the road is one thing, just like winning over a poor team like Dallas at home. But beating a team that made the NFC championship game on the road last year was easily their biggest road victory in a decade. Even the 2018 and 2020 playoff teams didn't have road wins like this over strong opponents. The last big road win over a highly regarded opponent was 2015, when they beat Green Bay on Brett Favre Night at Lambeau Field. No one would confuse that Bears team in John Fox's first season with this one.