The Bears came into today’s game with the Raiders reeling, hurt and full of questions. QB Justin Fields was ruled out on Friday with a dislocated thumb injury, Tyson Bagent was inserted as the starter and questions remained whether this disjointed Bears offense could find some consistency over 4 quarter period to get themselves a win.
Chicago found its offensive stride today behind the running of D’Onta Foreman and the game manager style of QB Tyson Bagent as the Bears crushed the Raiders 30-12. D’Onta Foreman had himself quite the day as he had 120 all-purpose yards and 3 TDs. Tyson Bagent, starting in his 1st NFL game from a Div. II school, finished his day going 21/29 for 162 yards & 1 TD. He also added 24 yards rushing on 3 carries. He used plenty of check downs and screens to get the job done as he found 7 different receivers throughout the game. DJ Moore led all receivers with 8 catches for 64 yards. The run game was key in giving Bagent the confidence he needed to lead the offense.
On defense it was clearly the Bears’ best day this season. They were able to get off the field as they held the Raiders to 2 of 9 3rd Down conversions, 235 yards of offense and forced 3 turnovers. CB Jaylon Johnson was the star on defense as he had 3 tackles, 2 pass deflections, 2 INTs and a pick-6 to put the cherry on the top. Matt Eberflus continued dialing up different styles of blitzes as he understands more and more his front four are not winning on the line of scrimmage.
The Bears never let up after grabbing a 14-3 halftime lead going into the 2nd half. They tacked on another TD when Bagent found D’Onta Foreman for a 5-yard TD pass and then up 24-6 late in the 4th Quarter Jaylon Johnson picked off Brian Hoyer and returned it 39 yards to the house effectively putting the icing on the cake.
Grading The Bears
Offense: The Bears committing to the run game was essential in the win. The Bears ran for 173 yards on a 4.6 yards per carry average. The two scoring drives in the 2nd half ate up over 14 minutes. Tyson Bagent looked calm as he completed 72% of his passes and found his targets on screens, slants and short passes. The team didn’t have a pass play over 17 yards but that was ok because the Bears marched down the field on dink & dunk plays. The offense was also 8 of 13 on 3rd Down conversions. Grade: B+
Defense: As a team the Bears totaled 1 sack, 3 QB hits, 2 tackles for loss, 9 pass deflections, 3 turnovers and a defensive TD. The defense didn’t let the run game get off as they held the Raiders to 39 yards rushing. They kept pretty much everything in front of them and didn’t allow for the big play. The front four once again had trouble winning one-on-one battles on the line but the back 7 play was strong. Tremaine Edmunds had an INT as well. Grade: B+
Special Teams: Cairo Santos had a 54 yard FG. Velus Jones had a solid day returning kickoffs. The team did have an extra point blocked late in the game but overall a solid day for the special teams. Grade: B
Coaching: Matt Eberflus had his 2nd straight strong game calling defensive plays. Over those 2 weeks the Bears have given up only 455 yards & 31 points in that span. Eberflus seems to be coaching to the strengths of his defensive players. On offense, the game plan was simple – get the run game going and ask your rookie QB to manage the game and stay in his lane. There was the head scratching decision to hold on to their timeouts at the end of the 1st half as time ticked off the clock and then insert Nathan Peterman to throw the hail mary at the end of the half. That will be glossed over as the Bears got the win but it does show the coaching continues to make decisions that doesn’t benefit the team. Grade: B
The Good, Bad & Ugly
The Good: D’Onta Foreman and Jaylon Johnson get game balls for their good games today. Foreman had 3 total TDs while Johnson basically secured his bag with 2 INTs and a pick-6. The team committing to the run game was key to the offense looking dominant today. The defense getting off the field today was also important. Winning the turnover battle 3 to none usually puts you in a great position to win.
The Bad: The penalties. Oh the penalties. This team continues to have penalties that either stall their own drives or keeps the opponents’ drives going. The Bears ended up with 9 penalties for 110 yards. Fortunately for them the Raider are a bad football team that couldn’t capitalize off of those mistakes. Mistakes like that can’t happen against better competition.
The Ugly: Yeah… we gotta talk about the Bears’ last drive of the 1st half. With the ball on their own 32 yard line with :53 seconds left Bagent found DJ Moore for a 6 yard pass. Instead of calling a timeout the Bears allowed over 20 seconds to run before hiking their next play. That’s just coaching negligence. The Bears would eventually try a hail mary to end the half but instead of Bagent being out there Eberflus inserts Nathan Peterman. Do you really expect me to believe that Nathan Peterman is better than Tyson Bagent at throwing a football 55 yards downfield??
After the win Matt Eberflus and Tyson Bagent took to the podium:
Up Next: The Bears travel to Hollywood to take on Justin Herbert and the 2-4 Chargers. The Chargers’ offense has been reeling for most of this season as they have scored more than 24 points in a game only twice this season.
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