EMB-170 Captain reported while in cruise flight observing an air bubble and cracks in the Captain's windshield resulting in the crew descending to a safe altitude and continued to their destination.

Narrative

On Day 0 I operated Aircraft X from ZZZ1 to ZZZ. Approximately halfway through the flight passing FSM waypoint I realized a large air bubble and cracks forming on the CA windshield along the right perimeter. I notified my FO and he agreed that they were cracks. During our discussion which was approximately 2min long we could see the air bubble getting slightly bigger and several of the small cracks were growing at a slow rate. I notified dispatch that I wanted to [request priority handling] to prevent further issue throughout the flight and we agreed that ZZZ was our best airport to land at. After a brief discussion with my FO we decided that staying at altitude wasn't the correct course of action and that descending to a safe altitude was the correct course of action in case of an entire windshield crack or depressurization. I asked dispatch for any guidance from Maintenance Control and we ran the first portion of the windshield crack checklist. I [requested priority handling] with ZZZ Center and [requested priority handling]. We descended to 10;000 feet MSL at a rate of approximately 2000-3000 feet per minute. The cracks had grown approximately 1/8 inch while some had grown to about 1/2 inch in between the time that I initially saw them and leveling at 10;000 feet. There was a main crack running vertically near the edge of the glass which wasn't growing; but almost all of the horizontal cracks were growing or new ones were appearing from that vertical crack. Dispatch made me aware of a Time Deferral that I overlooked for a 'possible crack' on the captains window. At this point it was 100% evident that there were several cracks and even moisture in the seal and in between the 2 panes of glass that had frozen and also expanded potentially causing the issue. Even though I overlooked the Time Deferral the slight increase in size over that short period of time and moisture inside the glass that had frozen and expanded was of concern especially being at FL360 and it's what caught my attention. Once we got to about 10;000 feet I noticed they stopped growing at that time and everything was stable with them. QRH called for us to turn the packs off and dump the pressure once reaching 10;000 feet; but we both agreed that wasn't necessary due to the 9-12 cracks being less than 1.5 inches; not growing; and the pressure was holding. We agreed if they worsened we would then follow the rest of the QRH procedure. We were vectored for a visual approach and landed normally. Crash fire rescue was there to meet us and followed us per their procedures (I didn't request them). In flight when I noticed the cracks I notified the flight attendants to prepare for landing and take their seats and make sure passengers were not out of their seats in case of a depressurization. I decided to not make a passenger announcement because the flight conditions were normal from their perspective and we were going to their destination so I didn't want to alarm them. I did notify them when the fire trucks were following us as to what happened in case any of them were concerned.Cause: Cracked windshield listed in the time deferral began to deteriorate. Even though overlooked; it getting worse led to us taking preventative action and descending to 10;000 to avoid further issues like depressurization and reducing the cracking.Suggestions: Review all time deferrals and maintenance items is very important in case problems arise in flight. Crew can be aware of them all especially the ones that aren't visible to the crew during flight.