The Chicago Bears will face the Washington Commanders in Week 8. Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every Falcons skill player who has the potential to make a fantasy impact during the game.
Looking for more lineup advice? Head over to our Week 8 Fantasy Start-Sit Cheat Sheet, where we cover every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Caleb Williams, QB
Patience. We as a society lack it, and we are no different in the fantasy space. Williams was a mess to open his career, and that might be a disservice to the word “mess.”
Weeks 1-3:
- 59.3% completion percentage
- 5.3 yards per attempt
- 65.3 passer rating
- 13.7 pressure passer rating
- 0.5 touchdown-to-interception rate
Williams’ struggles were magnified by Jayden Daniels’ immediate success (through those three weeks, Williams had the fourth-lowest passer rating in the NFL while Daniels had the fourth-highest). That, naturally, resulted in plenty of people writing him off as an impact fantasy asset in 2024.
But what’s this? A player who can develop with time?
Weeks 4-6:
- 74.1% completion percentage
- 8.5 yards per attempt
- 122.8 passer rating
- 109.6 pressure passer rating
- 7.0 touchdown-to-interception rate
That stretch included scoring the seven-most fantasy points at the position, a mere 1.02 behind the seemingly already-crowned Rookie of the Year in Daniels.
Williams certainly has plus-athleticism in his profile, but it’s less overwhelming than what Daniels or Lamar Jackson has access to. His rushing profile is somewhere in the middle of reckless Baker Mayfield, run-when-needed Joe Burrow, and schemed-up Daniel Jones. All three of those QBs have posted top-seven finishes against the Commanders this season, a plausible outcome for Chicago’s rookie with an extra week of prep time.
D’Andre Swift, RB
Swift (Weeks 4-6)
That is the entire list of running backs with three consecutive top-six finishes at the position this season. Not Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley, or the I-always-seem-to-get-there-even-if-it’s-ugly Alvin Kamara.
Scroll back up, and you’ll see that Swift’s run of dominance aligns with the growth of his rookie quarterback. If you’re in on Williams continuing to develop, I think you have no choice but to label his workhorse back as a top-15 play moving forward and potentially higher.
Across those three games, Swift has produced 22.2% over expectation (Weeks 1-3: -43.5%) and seen his yards per carry before contact spike by 62.8% despite a rise in loaded boxes as a concentrated effort is being made to slow him down.
Of course, looking at the full picture is the responsible thing to do here. In doing so, you’ll notice that Swift has caught 100% of his targets over this stretch while facing the bottom of the barrel in terms of run defenses (Jaguars, Panthers, and Rams).
That’s why I’m not suggesting that he is a candidate to lead the position in scoring the rest of the way or anything like that, but with his bye week now in the rearview and a favorable run-out during the end of the fantasy season (home games against the Lions and Seahawks in Weeks 16-17), buying “high” on Swift isn’t a bad idea if his current manager is looking to cash in this chip.
Swift is younger than you think (25 years old), and with Chicago’s offense trending in the right direction, this is a stock I’m looking to get exposure to — even at its current-day cost.
DJ Moore, WR
The arrow is pointing straight up for Moore, and while I don’t think he’s in a position to repeat his career year from 2023 (96-1,364-8), he’s deserving to be locked into lineups across the board for the remainder of the season as long as we don’t see significant regression from Caleb Williams.
After some tinkering early on, it seems that the Bears are trending in a very specific role direction for Moore:
Moore’s slot usage rates, 2024:
- Week 3 at Colts: 2.5% of routes
- Week 4 vs. Rams: 14.3% of routes
- Week 5 vs. Panthers: 18% of routes
- Week 6 vs. Jaguars: 31.4% of routes
He’s caught eight of 10 slot targets (with a touchdown) this season, and the veteran provides Williams with a security blanket that he clearly trusts. I think you can pencil in 5-7 catches consistently moving forward, with a 20+ point ceiling when matchups like this present themselves.
I’m 0% worried about the six-point effort you got from Moore in Week 6.
Keenan Allen, WR
The last time we saw Chicago, Keenan Allen was dancing in the end zone twice, scoring 21.9 PPR points in the easy win over the Jaguars. That was great to see for a veteran who had just 18.1 points on his 2024 ledger going into the matchup.
Is this the start of something or a flash in the pan?
A little bit of both.
I think he’s proven himself as the second most reliable option in a passing game that should continue to get better, though there will be weeks where his opportunity count is low due to the number of options in this offense.
Allen had 127 air yards in Week 1, but his role has come back toward expectations with just 106 since. I love his usage in scoring situations this season (five of his 25 targets have come in the end zone), and while that rate isn’t going to be sustained, it’s encouraging to see him have the trust of his rookie signal-caller at the most important spot on the field for fantasy purposes.
Allen is a fine Flex play, with his health something we can count on right now, though his 8.1 yards per catch introduces a floor that you need to at least be aware of. That said, if you’re not Flexing him here, when are you?
Rome Odunze, WR
I preached patience earlier within Caleb Williams’ profile, and it’s more of the same with his rookie receiver … in dynasty formats. I think Odunze still has a bright future, but I’m willing to cut ties if you find yourself in a roster crunch starting next week.
We all remember the big showing against the Colts (6-112-1, fantasy’s WR7) and the success of rookie receivers across the league makes us want to hold onto hope, but where is the growth going to occur?
Field time isn’t an issue for Odunze (85.5% snap share), and that takes away a development path. For the season, he’s producing 14.5% below expectations, and that aforementioned big game is his only top-45 effort of the season, accounting for 49% of his fantasy production this season.
I’m not pulling the plug on Odunze ahead of this advantageous matchup and still think he’s a viable WR handcuff, though my current expectations are low and I don’t have him ranked as a Flex-worthy option for Week 8.
Cole Kmet, TE
Kmet is a good reminder that we are betting on a situation and role more than a player. Nothing in his profile suggests that he has made any growth from last season, but he’s always on the field (81% snap share or better in four straight games) and plays in an upward-trending unit that has had two full weeks to prepare for one of the worst defenses at all three levels.
He was TE2 in Week 3 and TE1 the last time we saw the Bears in Week 6, those, of course, are his only finishes better than TE17 this season. He’s viable but not special. This matchup can elevate bad to average, viable to valuable, and highly involved to elite. I’ve got Kmet ranked as a low-end TE1 as more of a bet on Caleb Williams having success in this spot than anything directly related to the tight end himself.
Chicago Bears at Washington Commanders Game Insights
Chicago Bears
Team: The Bears give away just one first down via penalty per game this season (tied for the third-fewest; only the Steelers and 49ers allow fewer).
QB: Caleb Williams took a few games to look like the prodigy he was sold as, but we are moving in that direction:
Weeks 1-3:
-
- 59.3% completion percentage
- 5.3 yards per attempt
- 65.3 passer rating
- 13.7 pressure passer rating
- 0.5 touchdown-to-interception rate
Weeks 4-6:
-
-
- 74.1% completion percentage
- 8.5 yards per attempt
- 122.8 passer rating
- 109.6 pressure passer rating
- 7.0 touchdown-to-interception rate
-
Offense: The scheming hasn’t been effective for the Bears – only the Browns are averaging fewer yards per play in first quarters than Chicago this season.
Defense: The Bears are the only defense in the league this season to have allowed a touchdown to the slot.
Fantasy: There is one running back who has strung together three straight top-six finishes at the position this season, and his name is D’Andre Swift.
Betting: The Bears are coming off their bye and have seen five of their past six games on extra rest go under the total (average difference to the projected total: -5.3 points).
Washington Commanders
Team: The Commanders lead the NFL with a plus-66 point differential. It’s Washington’s best point differential through seven games since 1991, the season of their last Super Bowl title.
QB: Jayden Daniels is averaging 8.4 yards per pass this season, a rate only Brock Purdy topped in 2023.
Offense: Last week was the third time the Commanders have posted at least a 52% success rate in a game this season. The rest of the NFL has done that six times combined, and no team has done it more than once.
Defense: The Commanders allow 9.4 yards per fourth-quarter pass, the second-most in the league (Jaguars).
Fantasy: Brian Robinson Jr. has been a top-25 running back in every game he has played this season, but be careful – he’s gone consecutive games without a target and four straight without a 20-yard rush.
Betting: When rookie QBs oppose one another, the home team has covered six of the past eight.
