Many NFL fans didn’t know what to expect heading into the Commanders-Bears matchup on Thursday Night Football. But the matchup did manage to deliver on something viewers hadn’t seen on TNF in nearly two whole weeks.
A touchdown.
After what felt like years of TD-less football on Thursday nights, Bears quarterback Justin Fields finally put an end to viewers’ collective misery with a beautiful 40-yard pass to receiver Dante Pettis in the third quarter.
Ironically, Fields’s bomb not only marked the first trip to the end zone on TNF since Week 4, but it also gave Chicago a 7–3 lead. Kicker Joey Slye put Washington on the board first after extending the dubious six-quarter streak with a 38-yard field goal in the second quarter.
Many fans couldn’t believe their eyes as soon as the referees confirmed Pettis’s nifty grab, and for good reason. Up to that point, there had been 41 possessions without a TD dating back to the last two drives of the Dolphins-Bengals game on Sept. 29.
Yikes.
On a night where both the Bears and Commanders struggled in all phases, both teams seemed destined to continue the dubious streak that defined last week’s “classic,” a sluggish 12-9 Broncos’ win over the Colts. Thankfully, Fields and Pettis found just enough magic to prevent yet another TNF matchup from turning into a pumpkin.
However, considering the fact that the clubs combined for seven punts across 10 total first-half drives, viewers who made the curious decision to watch the game couldn’t help but let their dismay be known leading into the break.
Based on some of these responses, it might’ve actually be more entertaining to watch Twitter than the first two quarters of the game.
