Photo courtesy of AP News
What a WILD game. I think this was the craziest game since that infamous Zona circa 2006.
Talk about the Raiders letting Bears off the hook!
Ashton Jeanty rushed for 128 yds, 1 TD, 6.5 per along with TWO rec TDs
The #1 key was to stop or minimally contain Jeanty; they failed miserably.
And before you crown his ass, a 33 yr old Raheem Mostert rushed 4 times for 62 yds at a mindboggling 15.5 per carry. They may as well have been Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl
Raiders rushed for a total of 240 yds.7.7 avg yet somehow managed to still lose!
Bears@Raiders Highlights
I have way too many thoughts on the game to squeeze into one post but few pertinent notes.
1. The Bears came out slow. I think they had 97 yds total in the first half despite the D spotting them great field position. Four times they started in Raider territory yet flopped.
This was a combo of Nagyesque small-ball, Crosby scud, dropped passes, batted throws, miscues and way too many stupid penalties. Kmet especially did his best Kellen Davis impression.
2. Raiders blitzed over 9 times, which was more in one half than Flus the entire game previously; it rattled Caleb. He looked uncomfortable, making iffy decisions [including on RPOs] and off throws. When he did scramble, his cast didn’t help him much. It was all discombobulated.
3. The run game stunk! 69 yd total, 2.7 avg. Ben Johnson reverted to Nagy-ball of quick screens, flats and dump-offs near the LOS to essentially act as the defacto run game. Only thing missing was empty-set diamond formation. The results were predictable.
However, all this seemed to change once Braxton was out [benched?], Benedet moved to LT, and Trapilo debuted at RT in the final drive before the half.
After the half, the oline seemed to settle-in while BJ became more aggressive.
It appeared BJ just gave up on the run, putting the game on Caleb’s shoulder, and he responded.
I wrote in real time that Caleb somehow looks more comfortable in the clutch than at the start of games. It’s truly odd. The ‘scripted’ plays didn’t help much today.
Caleb is a walking Dickenson quote, “It was the worst of halves, it was the best of halves…”
Then came the final drive where it was all on Caleb.
Flus’ Bears would’ve folded like knock-off jeans from a sweat-shop by the 4rth, but the Bears kept clawing back, including the D that forced the Raiders to settle for a FG late.
The Bears’ final drive itself was bumpy as well. As Data keenly relayed:
Bears were shooting themselves in the foot from the 1st drive. I’m shocked they had any paws to stand on by the last.
Nonetheless, Caleb matriculated the ball downfield, and here we gotta give Swift some love as he finished when it mattered most.
Naturally, it’s the Bears, so they [badly] screwed up the 2-point conversion making it 25-24 Bears.
At this point, our Angelo-Emery-Pace-Poles trauma triggered as we were cynically expecting the inevitable, no Vaseline.
Sure enough, the Raiders waltzed down field like Fred Astaire through the Red Sea, reaching the Kicker’s Promised Land which felt like anything near the 50.
Like Pavlovian losers, I wouldn’t be shocked if thousands of Bear fans hit the parking-lot trying to beat Strip traffic or make one last all-you-can-eat buffet before leaving Vegas buzzed, broke and bitter.
Then, the unimaginable manifested.
Daniel Carslon lined up for a seemingly chip-shot 54 yd FG…
Boom-shaka-laka!
It only took 4 TOs, a slew of Raider mistakes, 4 Cairo FGs [including two beyond 51], a Tori coffin corner inside the 1 plus a blocked FG for a Bears’ victory!
Crown em!