When the Bears (0-4) travel to face the Commanders (2-2) in Washington in the first game of NFL Week 5 on "Thursday Night Football" (8:15 p.m., Amazon Prime Video), fantasy football owners are simply hoping for the best from two inconsistent offenses.
Chicago comes in mostly healthy offensively, minus only wide receiver Chase Claypool (personal). Washington has a couple of wideouts banged up in Curtis Samuel (quad) and Jahan Dotson (ankle), but both will play. The Bears' biggest issues are in the secondary, where cornerback Jaylon Johnson (hamstring) and safety Eddie Jackson (foot) are out and safety Jaquan Brisker (hamstring) is "questionable."
Knowing all that, who should you play in fantasy, whether in seasonal leagues or DFS single-slates? Here are our lineup recommendations to start the week:
WEEK 5 FANTASY ADVICE:
Sleepers | Busts | Projections | Start 'em, sit 'em
Bears: Who to start, sit in fantasy football on TNF
Start: QB Justin Fields
Fields had his best passing performance of the season against the Broncos' pathetic defense. He should need to run more this week while facing a little more pressure and having a few trickier secondary matchups. He also can take off well against a team with shaky linebackers that's given up good rushing production to Russell Wilson, Josh Allen, and Jalen Hurts. Even with his sometimes ugly play, Fields is still a weekly QB1.
MORE THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL:
DK lineup | FD lineup | Best props | Betting preview
Start: RB Khalil Herbert
Herbert has held off any thought of losing the lead role in this backfield. He turned 22 touches into 122 scrimmage yards and a TD last week in a rare positive game script. Chicago opted for his explosiveness to complement the more confident Fields. The Commanders aren't the easiest run defense, so temper your workload and efficiency expectations, but Herbert's a fine RB2/flex in deeper leagues given the rash of byes.
WEEK 5 STANDARD RANKINGS:
QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/STs | Kickers
Sit: RB Roschon Johnson
Roschon might be the Bears' best running back, but they're not going there yet despite the fantasy community trying to will it. He likely will need an injury to Herbert to see enough work to be relevant, at least for a while.
WEEK 5 PPR RANKINGS:
QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/STs | Kickers
Start: WR DJ Moore
Moore will primarily see Kendall Fuller and rookie Emmanuel Forbes in coverage, which doesn't particularly worry us since he fared well despite seeing some Patrick Surtain II last week. He's getting better at connecting with Fields each week, so we still believe in him as a WR3.
Sit: WR Darnell Mooney
Mooney can't be trusted in season-long leagues because of his inconsistent targets. Until Fields finds him more away from Moore, you can't go here.
WEEK 5 DFS:
DK lineup | FD lineup | Best values | Best stacks
Sit: TE Cole Kmet
Kmet went off last week, scoring twice on Denver after not doing much early. However, the Commanders have erased tight ends with their coverage all season. As Cole goes quickly cold, you can say nyet to Kmet if you have some better options in better matchups.
Sit: K Cairo Santos
Say not to Cairo. Let this Cairo go.
Sit: Bears D/ST
In the name of Dick Butkus, Brian Urlacher, and Mike Singletary, this injury-riddled unit stinks.
Commanders: Who to start, sit in fantasy football on TNF
Start: QB Sam Howell
Howell is only QB17 after a quarter of the season, but that's misleading because he had one horrendous outing against the Bills. Otherwise, he's been solid against the Cardinals, Broncos, and Eagles. The Bears fall into the column of cake matchups, so Howell is a great streamer and good bet for two TDs along with decent passing and rushing stats.
Start: RB Brian Robinson Jr.
The other B-Rob is doing well with feature-like touches for Washington, getting the favor of OC Eric Bieniemy. Robinson had tough sledding in Philadelphia but still scored. The Bears have been ripped by various backs, from Aaron Jones to Jaleel McLaughlin. Robinson will get back to being red hot and push for his first rushing century.
Sit: RB Antonio Gibson
Gibson lost a fumble in Week 1, and there's been shaky confidence in using him, even as a receiver. He also has lost any sense of a hybrid role, hurting him in the rushing attack.
Start: WR Terry McLaurin
McLaurin owns the Eagles and went off on them in Week 4. Week 5 presents an even better secondary matchup with no Jaylon Johnson and rookie Tyrique Stevenson in a prominent role. A hundy and a score is right there for the taking with Jahan Dotson and Curtis Samuel hurting.
Sit: WR Jahan Dotson
The concept is there with Dotson (ankle), but there's been no reliable execution of getting him the ball except on rare occasions. For some reason, the chemistry between him and Howell hasn't carried into the regular season. It can still happen, but he's a risky WR3 play at the moment, especially while not at full strength.
Sit: WR Curtis Samuel
Samuel (quad) is getting involved well all of a sudden as a versatile cog, kind of replacing the little-used Gibson in that role. He can't be playing in season-long leagues, however, with his fickle usage.
Sit: TE Logan Thomas
Howell likes throwing to his tight ends, but they can also disappear at times. Besides, it's also really a committee between Thomas, John Bates, and Cole Turner anyway.
Sit: K Joey Slye
You're doing nothing sly by starting him in fantasy for FG points.
Start: Commanders D/ST
Chase Young and Kamren Curl headline their playmakers, and the Bears are giving up easy defensive TDs virtually every week with poor passing and key mistakes from Justin Fields. This is also boosted by the emotional energy of playing at home in prime time. Boom. As a bonus, Washington also can be played in the next couple of weeks against the Falcons and Giants.
Bears vs. Commanders: DraftKings Showdown lineup
- Captain (1.5X): Commanders QB Sam Howell $14,100
- FLEX: Commanders WR Terry McLaurin $10,200
- FLEX: Bears WR D.J. Moore $10,000
- FLEX: Commanders RB Brian Robinson Jr. $9,200
- FLEX: Commanders D/ST $5,400
- FLEX: Commanders TE Cole Turner $800
Howell and McLaurin is the hookup to have here, with a dose of Robinson. That should handle much of the production for Washington and it should get some big defensive plays, too. Moore is the piece to have on the other side as the least volatile at this point. Turner is a fine punt play at that price should catch 2-3 balls.
Bears vs. Commanders: FanDuel single-game lineup
- MVP (1.5X): Commanders QB Sam Howell $15,500
- AnyFLEX: Commanders RB Brian Robinson Jr. $14,000
- AnyFLEX: Bears WR D.J. Moore $12,500
- AnyFLEX: Commanders D/ST $9,500
- AnyFLEX: Bears WR Darnell Mooney $8,500
Here's the same Commanders heavy construction with a Howell-Robinson outlying stack instead. Moore and Moony are hoping there's an effective negative game script for Fields, in which the Commanders can also get sacks and takeaways.
