Windy City Gridiron
It was a nail-biter from start to finish for the Bears, but after a blocked field goal by Josh Blackwell to close out the game, they escaped with the 25-24 victory to improve to 2-2.
The win puts the Bears at the .500 mark going into their Week 5 bye week. It wasn’t pretty by any stretch of the imagination, but a win is a win at the end of the day. Here are the key takeaways from Sunday’s action.
All told, Maxx Crosby was credited for four tackles, three tackles for a loss, one quarterback hit, Lord knows how many pressures, three pass deflections, and an interception. He was borderline unstoppable on Sunday.
Caleb Williams had struggled through the first few games of the season with passes being deflected at the line of scrimmage, but that issue was amplified in Week 4. Low release points made it easier for Las Vegas’ defensive line to make plays, with Crosby being a key component in that. The Bears’ offensive line wasn’t without blame, however. Theo Benedet struggled significantly at right tackle, though he did stabilize a bit moving to left tackle once Ozzy Trapilo came in on the right side, replacing Braxton Jones in the lineup. Drew Dalman and Jonah Jackson both appeared to get beat a few times upon first viewing, too.
The Bears have a handful of experienced veterans in their skill position group on offense. Few of them ended up making a positive impact against the Raiders. Cole Kmet had multiple drops and got called for a false start on 4th-and-1 that forced Chicago into a punting situation. D’Andre Swift was consistently unable to make opportunities up the middle and had a drop of his own on a swing pass early in the game. Even with his rushing touchdown late, it was generally a disappointing outing. DJ Moore only had four catches for 38 yards. It wasn’t a banner day for some of the most expensive players on their roster.
A big reason the Bears were so competitive came down to the performance of their secondary. Kevin Byard alone finished the game with two interceptions, shooting downhill on both plays to force turnovers in the first half. Tyrique Stevenson contributed with an interception of his own, giving Chicago’s offense some solid field position to work with.
Granted, it’s not like the offense could do much on Sunday, anyway. But having a defense that turned the ball over at such a high rate – and that’s not even including a forced fumble that Andrew Billings generated – helped keep them in the game consistently.
