Chicago Fire FC have to get their season back on track at D.C. United after three consecutive losses in all competitions

The Chicago Fire have to clean up their act on the pitch in their final three matches before the FIFA Men’s World Cup breaks kicks off at the end of May and their midweek trip to the nation’s capital is the perfect place to get their 2026 MLS season back on track.

The Chicago Fire (5-2-4, 17 points, 4th in Eastern Conference) travel to Washington D.C. amidst a three-match losing streak in all competitions and a run of three losses in their last four MLS contests with the non-loss coming in resounding fashion over bottom-of-MLS Sporting Kansas City, a side that may just be the worst group to take the field in MLS history. 

Despite Chicago’s recent downturn in form, they’re still fourth in MLS’s Eastern Conference and a single point ahead of their midweek opponents in D.C. United in the table. The Chicago Fire are reeling after an incredibly disheartening 3-1 loss over the weekend to Red Bull New York at Soldier Field, a contest where they gave RBNY far too many chances while failing to create much of anything in the attacking portion of the pitch other than their consolation goal while already trailing by three. 

Given the club’s recent form and need to turn things around quickly, the Chicago Fire are excited by the prospect of a quick turnaround for their contest at Audi Field.

“It’s good when you don’t have to stew on a bad result,” Chicago Fire center back and captain Jack Elliott said after the loss at the weekend. “[We can] get back after it on Wednesday and try and help correct the things that went wrong tonight, and then do them better in a few days. Obviously, we want to change the form and go back to being a more resolute defensive team.”

Well the Chicago Fire won’t have too long to stew on the loss to RBNY as they will take on D.C. United on Wednesday evening, the same D.C. United that did just enough to steal three points at Soldier Field when these two sides faced off earlier this season on the lakefront. Chicago struggled to contain D.C. United forward Tai Baribo, who ended up scoring the match-winning penalty in second half stoppage time to secure three points for the club he joined in the offseason from the Philadelphia Union.

For the Chicago Fire , they need to be more stout defensively when they take the pitch at Audi Field. After goalkeeper Chris Brady and company collected five clean sheets in the Fire’s first ten matches in all competitions of 2026, Chicago has conceded seven times in their last three including three goals in both of their previous contests leading into their trip to Washington D.C. 

More than anything, Chicago needs to get things right before the World Cup break because they are getting incredible amounts of production through forward Hugo Cuypers even though he has missed some matches this season due to injury. 

Chicago Fire forward Hugo Cuypers currently leads all scorers in MLS with 11 goals on the season and has scored in all eight MLS matches he has appeared in during the 2026 season. He’s been the one consistent force in the Fire’s attack and it’s up to his teammates to take initiative so that this great scoring run by the club’s number nine isn’t wasted.

“He’s having a fantastic season,” Chicago Fire director of football and head coach Gregg Berhalter said after Cuypers scored his 11th goal of the season.” We’re all happy for him. And he’s contributed in many ways other than scoring goals. For us, it would be nice if we follow suit with the results and with the performances. You don’t want to throw away a Golden Boot winner with a team that’s mediocre. So we want to continue to climb and to continue to have good performances.”

The Chicago Fire will have their chance to get more than a result this midweek and another lopsided win over D.C. United at Audi Field would be fun for the neutral, if for no other reason than to see what D.C.’s braintrust asks an AI source to drudge up for his weekly Linkedin post.