As bad as the Raiders have been at times this season, they were actually 2.5-point favorites in Chicago Sunday. That’s because the Bears were one of the worst teams in the NFL and were without starting quarterback Justin Fields and starting an undrafted Division II rookie Tyson Bagent in his place.
The Raiders were without their starter as well, with Jimmy Garoppolo down with an injured back. In his place was 15-year veteran Brian Hoyer.
The thinking seemed to be that Hoyer was able to do enough last week to let the Raiders defense secure a 21-17 win over the Patriots. And with the Bears not figuring to be able to mount much of an attack on offense, Hoyer could at least be a steady presence over rookie Aidan O’Connell.
None of this game went the way the Raiders had hoped.
The Bears ran all over the Raiders’ defense while the Raiders offense was stuck in cement. And at QB, it was Bagent who was the steady presence while Hoyer completed just 17 passes for 126 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions — one a pick six.
The Bears jumped out to a 14-0 lead early and were up 21-3 by the end of the third quarter. Their third touchdown looking like the one that iced it because the Raiders offense hasn’t broken 20 points all season. They only managed 21 points last week because of a game-clinching safety.
But even being down that much with 12 minutes left in the game, after the offense failed to get a touchdown on seven attempts from the nine-yard-line and Josh McDaniels sent out the field goal unit.
A field goal and a pick six put the Bears up 30-6 with just over five minutes left.
The debacle had many people asking is this was the most embarrassing of Josh McDaniels’s time as Raiders head coach.
It’s a valid question because there have been at least two more losses that may give this one a run for its money.
Last season the Raiders faced the Colts with recent high school coach Jeff Saturday making his NFL head coaching debut. Saturday’s Colts would beat McDaniels’s Raiders and then fail to win another game.
A few weeks later, the Raiders would face the Rams with Baker Mayfield at quarterback having signed with the team two days prior and not even having had an official practice and Mayfield carved the Raiders up.
Most embarrassing loss of the #fantastic Josh McDaniels era with #Raiders:
— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) October 22, 2023
For what it’s worth, the Saturday/Colts loss got my vote.
The mere fact that we’re asking this question is saying a lot. That in just 24 games as head coach of the Raiders, we have three losses that are so completely embarrassing that it’s hard to say which one takes the prize.
And it’s not like the Raiders have played well otherwise and this game comes out of nowhere.
After a 17-16 win over the Broncos in the season opener thanks to the Broncos missing a field goal and an extra point, the Raiders rattled off three straight losses. Then, despite the offense scoring 17 and 19 points, they managed to put together consecutive wins against struggling Packers and Patriots teams to pull to .500.
The Bears came in bad enough most figured the Raiders — despite clearly being one of the worst teams in football — would still be able to get the win to pull to a winning record. Not only did they fail to do that, but it was never close.
It isn’t often a team is even put in a position to face either a recent high school coach in his debut or a quarterback who was signed two days prior, or an undrafted former Division II rookie making his first start. Let alone look as terrible as the Raiders have in those matchups.
For that reason, it’s hard to imagine McDaniels will have another game this season that will measure up to the level of embarrassment we saw Sunday in Chicago. But I won’t rule it out. They have ten more games this season to top it.