The Washington Commanders will face the Chicago Bears in Week 8. Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every Commanders 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.
Jayden Daniels, QB
If you roster Jayden Daniels, you probably don’t need me to tell you that he left early last week and his status is unknown for Week 8. In the meantime, the team has gone out of its way to say how cautious they will be with their franchise centerpiece.
At this point, Daniels is matchup-proof, so if the Commanders play him, you do the same. He hardly played last week, and yet, he still extended his streak of consecutive games with a 30+ yard run or multiple touchdowns to three straight (and four of his past five).
Austin Ekeler, RB
Ekeler hasn’t seen more than two targets in three straight games when Brian Robinson Jr. is active, and I can’t imagine that changes if this team elects to take a cautious approach with Jayden Daniels.
The veteran has looked good in doses this season, but that’s the plan. He’s yet to have a 10-carry contest this season, and that includes a Robinson DNP. Betting on Ekeler is a parlay that I’m not willing to make most weeks and certainly not in a tough matchup like this with no teams on a bye.
Brian Robinson Jr., RB
With five touchdowns in his past four games and a top-25 ranking in all six games this season, Robinson has proven to be one of the more valuable RBs this season when you factor in his preseason ADP.
I don’t love the fact that Robinson hasn’t seen a target in consecutive games or that he has gone four straight without a 20-yard touch. Those recent struggles position him to bust in this tough matchup should Jayden Daniels sit, though his sheer volume would still have him ranked inside my top 30 in that scenario.
This defense has been one of the five best in the league over the past 12 months, that’s a fact. It’s also true that this defense has allowed production to feature running backs. Jonathan Taylor, Kyren Williams, Tony Pollard, and Chuba Hubbard all hit 17.5 PPR points in this matchup, giving me hope that Robinson can be a strong RB2 if this offense is at full strength.
Terry McLaurin, WR
Dan Quinn has been blunt when it comes to the status of Jayden Daniels — they are going to operate with an abundance of caution. And they should, but fantasy managers riding McLaurin (four top-20 finishes over his past five games) can’t be thrilled with this development.
Should Daniels play through the rib injury, I’d have McLaurin pushing for a WR1 ranking. But with me assuming that the rookie is inactive, Washington’s WR1 is hanging onto fantasy WR2 status by a thread.
I thought Marcus Mariota looked fine last week, but he was in a favorable script against the worst defense in the league, so forgive me if I’m not overly excited about a QB who has been on four rosters over the past four seasons and has just 19 touchdown passes on his résumé since the start of 2020.
Only two receivers have had big days against the Bears this season (12.5+ PPR points): Nico Collins in Week 2 and Gabe Davis in Week 6. The Collins thing happens to almost everyone, and the Davis game is just random variance — he has three of those games a season and Chicago just happened to be on the wrong side of it. Outside of that, this defense has been as stingy as any, and with a full week to prep for Mariota, I’m more likely to roster the Bears DST in DFS than look the way of McLaurin.
Despite being his team’s top option, McLaurin lives in the world of WR2s for Week 8, ranking in the same tier as Garrett Wilson, DeVonta Smith, and Tank Dell.
Zach Ertz, TE
The veteran tight end has seen at least five targets in consecutive games for the first time this season, and his getting there in a game led by Marcus Mariota is encouraging given the unknown status of Jayden Daniels at this moment.
The Bears are the most difficult team to complete red-zone passes against (30%), and that cuts out the legs from some of Ertz’s immediate appeal. That said, he has cleared fantasy expectations in five of six games this season (his first touchdown of the season got him there last week). That allows him to sneak inside my top 15 at the position this week, even in a less-than-ideal matchup
I’m counting on Daniels playing — should he sit, Ertz would fall a few spots but remain within the same streamer tier.
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:
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- 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:
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- 74.1% completion percentage
- 8.5 yards per attempt
- 122.8 passer rating
- 109.6 pressure passer rating
- 7.0 touchdown-to-interception rate
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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.