Windy City Gridiron
The Chicago Bears played most of that game like they were hungover after a long night in Sin City, yet somehow, all three phases came through in the waning minutes to make a big play to secure the win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
After a Cairo Santos 51-yard field goal to cut the lead to two (19 – 21), the Raiders drove right down to the red zone and had first and goal from the seven. But the Chicago defense stiffened and held them to a field goal.
Chicago 19, Las Vegas 24
The Bears’ offense answered with an 11-play, 69-yard drive for the go-ahead touchdown, but the two-point conversion failed.
Chicago 25, Las Vegas 24
The Raiders’ kickoff return set them up from their own 42-yard line, and a few plays later, they had a 3rd and 2 from Chicago’s 35. A first down would let them run the clock down and attempt a game-winning field goal. But the Bears’ defense not only held, they dropped Ashton Jeanty for a 1-yard loss.
Las Vegas lined up for a 54-yard field goal try, and Chicago’s Josh Blackwell timed the snap and came across for the block.
Ball game.
“All three sides of the ball at the end of the game came through, and that’s what you wish for,” Caleb Williams said at his postgame press conference.
As for the game stats, the Raiders put up 357 total yards to 271 for the Bears. Las Vegas really racked up the yards on the ground with 240 (7.7 ypc).
The Bears were solid on third downs, converting 7 for 16 (43.8%), while holding the Raiders to 2 for 8 (25%). The Bears also converted their lone fourth-down try while the Raiders were 0-1.
Penalties hurt the Bears with 8 for 60 yards to just 5 for 36 for Las Vegas.
Let’s look at the Bears’ playing time breakdowns and a few individual stats from the game.
The numbers won’t show it, but Caleb Williams had a nice overall day while under quite a bit of pressure from Maxx Crosby most of the afternoon. Williams said of Crosby, “He’s probably the best player I’ve ever played against so far in my career.”
Crosby was all over the field with 5 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 3 passes defended, an interception, a forced fumble, and a QB hit. The only thing missing from Crosby’s day was a sack. Caleb was only sacked once, which will make for another short Sackwatch this week.
On Chicago’s final touchdown drive, Williams was 4-of-5 for 42 yards and had 2 runs for 18 yards. In the fourth quarter, he was 6-of-8 for 60 yards passing with 4 rushing attempts for 17 yards (including the victory formation kneel).
D’Andre Swift struggled most of the game, but in the fourth quarter, he ran 5 times for 26 yards (5.2 ypc) and a TD, and had 2 receptions for 12 yards.
Kevin Byard III had 7...
