Commanders QB Sam Howell not looking past winless Bears on Thursday night: 'Definitely not a team you can take lightly'

A blowout loss one week and a heartbreaking overtime defeat the next have seen Sam Howell and the Washington Commanders run an emotional gamut of defeat. 

Facing a winless Chicago Bears squad might well be the best remedy for the Commanders' ills, but Howell isn't about to look past his Thursday night opponent, 0-4 or not. 

"Obviously, the record is what it is, but it's definitely not a team you can take lightly," Howell said, via team transcript, Tuesday when asked to assess the Bears' defense. "There's no easy games in the NFL and they have a lot of really good players on their defense and they fly around. They play hard and you can tell they want to win and it's definitely a challenge for us and we definitely have our hands full."

Following a 2-0 start, the Commanders have lost their last two in starkly different ways. Still, those losses came against a pair of first-place teams among the NFL's elite.

In a Week 3 drubbing against the Buffalo Bills, Howell was smacked around and sacked nine times. He also threw four interceptions during the 37-3 loss. The Bears have half as many interceptions and seven fewer sacks all season.

In a Week 4 nail-biter against the Philadelphia Eagles, Howell and Co. lost, 34-31, to the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles. The Bears have lost their two games against opponents with a winning record by an average of 20.5 points.

Will the bad news Bears be good news for the Commanders? Howell, in just his second season, is savvy enough not to look past Chicago or at least provide any bulletin board material despite facing off with the 31st-ranked defense in points allowed.

"It's definitely a tough defense," Howell said. "Every defense in the NFL is tough to play against, so you definitely got to be