One of the tougher tasks I have occasionally had in the 16 years I’ve been doing this series is finding anything positive in a seemingly complete collapse. This was one of those times.
The hapless Bears jumped to a 14-0 lead in this game and never looked back. The Raiders couldn’t stop the Chicago offense led by undrafted rookie QB Tyson Bagent. Mostly because they couldn’t stop the ground game and found themselves on their heels all game long.
It was so bad that even the final score didn’t accurately reflect the disparity. The final six points was a garbage time score after they were down 30-6. And honestly we all knew once the Raiders went down 21-3 in the third quarter, that was the clincher. After all, the Raiders offense hadn’t broken the 20-point barrier all season, and they were clearly not going to do it on this day.
But, as we typically do, let’s start with the glimmer of good before we go to the myriad of bad.
Ballers
DE Maxx Crosby
The best all-around edge rusher in the NFL is often the exception for the Raiders. Nearly every week he is not just a Baller, but the Top Baller. Even if that isn’t all that difficult to do on this team.
The defense didn’t hold up well most of the game, but every time they did, Crosby was the reason why.
The day began on a high note. The Bears won the toss and made the rare decision to start on offense. Then the Raiders forced a three-and-out, which immediately put them at an advantage. That advantage was created because on second down, Crosby got pressure to set up Bilal Nichols to make a tackle for loss and the Bears couldn’t dig out of it.
Down 7-0 to begin the second quarter, the Bears began driving again, picking up a couple first downs. Then Crosby burst into the backfield, forcing a holding penalty on his man and the Bears once again could not overcome it and punted.
Down 14-3 late in the second quarter, the Bears were threatening again. They moved into Vegas territory at the 47 and would get no further. Crosby flew in for the sack to put them back in their own territory with seconds left and that ended that.
That was as close as the Raiders would get. Still within two scores. Unfortunately Crosby can’t do it all by himself and the Bears were able to extend their lead, while the offense not only couldn’t close the gap, but actually made it worse with a late pick-six to turn this one into a laugher.
WR Jakobi Meyers
The Raiders had three scoring drives in the game. The first one featured a heavy dose of Meyers. He caught four consecutive passes for a combined 34 yards to put the Raiders in scoring range.
The second scoring drive featured a catch my Meyers to convert on third-and-three and a four-yard catch on second-and-goal from the ten.
He would later catch the Raiders only touchdown in the game. Even if it was a meaningless one in garbage time.