Despite attempts to improve the quality of games on Thursday Night Football, the NFL still isn't having much luck getting competitive games onto Amazon Prime. Last week's NFC North showdown between the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions was a complete blowout as Detroit built a 27-3 lead at the half on their way to a 34-20 win over their division rivals.
The first three weeks of games built into the 2023 TNF schedule were supposed to be among the highlights of the package as they featured four playoff teams, an ascending Detroit team, and a big-name brand in the Packers. With none of those games living up to the advanced billing, things could get dicey going forward.
Who is playing on Thursday Night Football in Week 5?
Next up is a game that looked questionable when it was placed on the schedule in May and, predictably, the matchup hasn't aged well over the first month of the season. The 0-4 Chicago Bears make their first primetime appearance of the season as they travel to our nation's capital to take on the 2-2 Commanders.
Sunday was a brutal loss for Chicago, which built a 28-7 lead in the third quarter only to watch the Denver Broncos score the final 24 points of the game in a 31-28 collapse. The Bears have gone almost a full calendar year between regular-season victories, with their last win coming against New England on Oct. 24, 2022.
The Commanders enter this one playing well after forcing overtime against the Philadelphia Eagles before falling 34-31. Sam Howell put together a strong effort for Washington, completing 29-of-41 passes for 290 yards and a touchdown, and arguably should have driven the Commanders into position to win the game if a key third-down catch from Terry McLaurin wasn't ruled out of bounds controversially in the overtime session.
