{"id":255770,"date":"2025-11-21T16:32:58","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T21:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=255770"},"modified":"2025-11-21T16:32:58","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T21:32:58","slug":"311-pound-steelers-darnell-washington-vs-bears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/11\/21\/311-pound-steelers-darnell-washington-vs-bears\/","title":{"rendered":"Bears Can&#8217;t Overlook Alleged 311-Pound Tight End vs. Steelers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/bears\/\" target=\"_self\">Chicago Bears<\/a> take the field against the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/steelers\/\" target=\"_self\">Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> this Sunday, one matchup stands out above all others, and it involves a man who barely fits the positional label next to his name. The Steelers list tight end Darnell Washington at 264 pounds, but that&#8217;s likely not the case.<\/p>\n<p>Washington became the talk of the league last week after a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NFL\/status\/1990138611489284101\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">viral clip<\/a> showed him stiff-arming one <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/bengals\/\" target=\"_self\">Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> defender, head-butting another, and making professional athletes look like middle schoolers trying to tackle Shaquille O&#8217;Neal.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">DARNELL WASHINGTON OH MY GLORIOUS STIFF ARM.<\/p>\n<p>CINvsPIT on CBS\/Paramount+<a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/HkKw7uXVnt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/HkKw7uXVnt<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vpn6NVgaFU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/vpn6NVgaFU<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NFL (@NFL) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NFL\/status\/1990138611489284101?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 16, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>After months of speculation, Washington finally admitted the truth on the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JoshNorris\/status\/1991183406537814430\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">St. Brown brothers&#8217; podcast:<\/a> he weighs 311 pounds \u2014 that, at least, according to Washington himself.<\/p>\n<p>That makes him heavier than some starting offensive linemen, and yet he moves like a blitzing bull on the field. At 6&#8217;7&#8243; with rare athleticism, Washington is a matchup nightmare the Bears can&#8217;t overlook, especially with Chicago <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BearsPR\/status\/1991948402889035811\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">down all three<\/a> of its starting linebackers.<\/p>\n<h2>Darnell Washington: A Freak Athlete With Connections to Chicago<\/h2>\n<p>Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson knows exactly what&#8217;s coming. The two played together at Georgia, where even then Washington towered over teammates and opponents alike.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was shocking at Georgia when he was doing it,&#8221; Stevenson told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/2025\/11\/21\/chicago-bears-pittsburgh-steelers-predictions\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sean Hammond of the Chicago Tribune.<\/a> &#8220;To see that he&#8217;s honed in on it and now he&#8217;s hurdling people, it&#8217;s crazy. Definitely excited to go against him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Honestly, how do you even tackle someone who&#8217;s 6&#8217;7&#8243; and 311 pounds running at you full speed? It&#8217;s fun for the fans to watch, but best of luck to any Bears&#8217; defenders who get into that situation on Sunday.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">54 seconds of Darnell Washington being hilariously hard to tackle <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/TxHnyxSdmn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/TxHnyxSdmn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Ihartitz\/status\/1990522672154096066?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 17, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Why Washington Could Be Chicago&#8217;s Biggest Headache This Sunday<\/h3>\n<p><em>The Athletic&#8217;s<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6822118\/2025\/11\/20\/darnell-washington-pittsburgh-steelers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mike DeFabo described Washington&#8217;s presence<\/a> vividly.<\/p>\n<p>When he walks through the Steelers&#8217; locker room, his massive frame &#8220;sways with every lumbering step,&#8221; yet he shows rare agility and change of direction for a man his size. Steelers&#8217; offensive coordinator Arthur Smith calls him a &#8220;wildcard,&#8221; likening him to a Madden create-a-player.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8230;This was settled 2000 years ago when Alexander the Great came riding in on elephants,&#8221; Smith said. &#8220;That&#8217;s kind of what it looks like. You put the tackle over, you&#8217;ve got 1,000 pounds over there.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Washington looks like a grown man playing against children, and he knows it. &#8220;Honestly, it just takes me back to the childhood days playing three flags up,&#8221; Washington said. &#8220;I see someone out there a lot smaller than me, I know what&#8217;s coming. I feel like everybody knows what&#8217;s coming.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re getting scared of him, for sure,&#8221; Aaron Rodgers said with a smile. &#8220;They should be.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Bears already have to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/11\/17\/injury-news-stacking-up-in-bears-favor\/\" target=\"_self\">potentially deal with Rodgers<\/a> on the field, which hasn&#8217;t gone well for Chicago over the years, and containing T.J. Watt won&#8217;t be easy either. But with Washington&#8217;s emergence as a real threat, the Bears will have their hands full.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Image: Phil Didion &#8211; Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Chicago Bears should keep a close eye on Pittsburgh Steelers alleged 311-pound tight end Darnell Washington this Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4976,"featured_media":255787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,36,6431,9],"tags":[275,7402,7403,9782,7366,9891],"class_list":["post-255770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bears","category-nfl-news","category-nfl-teams","category-steelers","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-arthur-smith","tag-chicago-bears-news","tag-darnell-washington","tag-pittsburgh-steelers-news","tag-tyrique-stevenson"],"modified_by":"Isaac Zuniga","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4976"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255770"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255792,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255770\/revisions\/255792"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}