Washington built their 2025 defense around size, veteran leadership, and trench investment.

They threw money at the interior, added seasoned names to fortify the spine, and doubled down on physicality as an identity. On paper, the front seven was supposed to be immovable.

But football isn’t played on paper — and once again, on Monday Night Football, against a Chicago Bears offense that’s sputtered through their first four games, Washington got gashed in the simplest, most predictable area of the sport: stopping the run.

It has become a weekly indictment of Joe Whitt’s unit. And it’s no longer a schematic issue alone. It is philosophical. Cultural. It’s now expected.

The Bears walked into Northwest Stadium without hiding their intentions. It was inside zone. Power. Counter. Duo QB keepe

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