The Bears were without Darnell Wright today and started Theo Benedet in his place. Benedet had a rough day but not because he didn’t play well. It was because he was dealing with Maxx Crosby all day. Ozzy Trapilo was inserted the last series in the first half. Benedet switched to the left in place of Braxton Jones. I was never clear on what happened to Jones. It may have been performance related but he hasn’t been healthy this year.
Crosby was a monster in this game. Batted passes, tackles, sacks, and even an interception. He was all over Caleb Williams and D’Andre Swift. He was a massive problem for the Bears offense. Eventually they started to flat out double team him on every play towards the end of the first half.
Williams was under pressure all day today and not just by Crosby. The Bears offensive line had a very difficult time keeping the Raiders out of the offensive backfield and they smothered the Bears.
Similarly, the Bears just could not get their run game going. Swift was constantly being hit in the backfield before he had a chance to make a play.
Ben Johnson apparently really likes to try to get Williams out on the naked boot but I’ve yet to see it work. Opposing defenses are all over it and the Raiders are no exception.
Williams did a good job on occasion against the blitz today. He tends to look to Olamide Zaccheaus over the middle when pressured. I thought that Adam Achuleta’s criticism of Williams was unfair. He was a bit more than “uncomfortable” today. He was under siege. I thought he did about as well as you could expect under the circumstances.
It appears that Williams was finding Cole Kmet more often today which is a step forward. On the other hand it was midway through the 4th quarter before he found DJ Moore.
I would also say that, although he still missed a few, Williams was a bit more accurate today, another step forward.
A couple series that tell a story today. 12:14 left in the second quarter. 1st and 10 from LV 24. Fumble recovery for a loss of 6 yards, followed by a sack for a loss of 10 yards. Punt instead of field goal. 6:51 left in the second, first and 10 from the Las Vegas 14, -2 yard run, second and 12 from the Las Vegas 16, 0 yard run, third and 12 from Las Vegas 16, 10 yard penalty, third and 22 from the Las Vegas 26, -2 yard run, field goal instead of a touchdown. This was the story of the game offensively.
Defense
The Bears started this game without Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon in the defensive backfield and without Grady Jarrett and Chris Williams on the defensive line. These were already weak areas of the defense. They were also without TJ Edwards but fortunately Noah Sewell has proven to be a good back up.
Andrew Billings had a good day against the Raiders center, beating him on both 3rd and 4th and 1 in the first quarter and generally clogging up the middle when he was in there.
Having said that, the defensive line struggled today. Ashton Jeanty broke out to have a good day as the Bears were his get right game along with the Raiders offensive line.
Kevin Byard had himself a day against Raiders quarterback Geno Smith. Smith threw the ball to Byard twice in the first half after late changes in coverage that Smith evidently had a difficult time with.
Miserable day for Smith today with multiple interceptions. He appeared to me to be having a difficult time adjusting to late, pre snap coverages by the Bears. Nice job by Byard and Tyrique Stevenson taking advantage.
Give credit to Stevenson today. He threw his body around in a very high effort game.
As the game wore on, late in the 3rd quarter into the 4th, I thought that there were too many missed tackles. This isn’t the first time this season that I thought that the Bears defense looked tired late in the game.
Honestly, as weak as this defense was on both on the back end and, especially, up front even before injuries, it’s astounding that they’ve managed to perform as well as they have. It’s tough to watch at times.
Miscellaneous
Bears fans didn’t take over the standout today but you could hear them when they had something to cheer about. I think estimates that it would be 50% Bears fans may have been over blown, though.
I loved the interview from Johnson coming out of half time. To say he was a bit snippy with Aditi Kinkhabwala is a little bit of an understatement. One look at Johnson on the sideline tells you how much he hates losing.
The Bears special teams did well today. Huge big play with the blocked field goal at the end and none given up. Cairo Santos has a good day. Tory Taylor kicked the ball off at the end of the game with less than 2 minutes left and a 1 point lead.
The Bears didn’t commit what I would call an excessive number of penalties but they combine with all of the with other mistakes to kill drives. Not as many are pre-snap penalties as at the beginning of the season but this has to get cleaned up if they are going to beat good teams.
The Bears won the turnover battle but the game was characterized by the fact that they couldn’t take adequate advantage of them.
I’d say overall a step forward for Caleb Williams today. I thought his accuracy was better, especially considering the pressure he was under. His mobility outside the pocket was a huge difference in the game. And he drove teh team to a game winning touchdown under duress. Having said that, a better team would have won this game handily. Defensively the Bears feel like they are hanging on by a thread. Not many quarterbacks are gong to hand you 3 interceptions the way that Geno Smith did today but when you get them, you have to take advantage of them. Ands the lack of a running game continues to be worrying. A step towards competency at quarterback is a step toward the future for this team. For now, I guess you take that and the win and have a good week.
