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Coming into this Week 7 preview, your Las Vegas Raiders sit at 3-3. They’re at precipice of potentially rising into playoff contention, or falling into despair.
The team is in second place in the AFC West behind the army of Swifties currently residing in first place with the Chiefs. They’re currently embroiled in the easiest part of their schedule. They’ve won back-to-back games for the first time since last season. The defense is rolling in a way we haven’t seen in decades. They’re finally a top-20 unit in the league and have come up with game-winning plays in back-to-back weeks.
The team just finally scored 20 points for the first time all season. However, it should be noted that they crossed the 20-point wall only after a defensive safety caused by Maxx Crosby. The offense only produced one touchdown last field and a litany of field goals. They’re still a $102 million operation but performing like they’ve invested scraps.
Coming into this Week 7 preview, the Chicago Bears are not having a good season. Lots of infighting, players openly showing no effort and complaining about usage issues and even robbery. They are the definition of instability this season.
The team’s starting quarterback Justin Fields at one time showed a lot of promise after the team took him in the first round. He was incredibly dynamic and a great passer in college. Now like every past Bears quarterback before him, he resembles a broken shell of what was once a promising QB.
It should be noted that there were some rather spicy comments from Raiders superstar Davante Adams on 10/18. I’ll get into them and my take on them under matchups to watch. Here is as good of a place as any. But here’s a bit of a spoiler; I don’t disagree with his overall message but rather the framing could have been better.
This will not be a battle of struggling starting quarterbacks. Both Bears quarterback Justin Fields and Raiders starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo are unlikely to play this Sunday, and as such this article will reflect that fact. In the very unlikely scenario where either man will play, my week 7 preview and prediction at the end would still remain the same.
Raiders QB Aidan O’Connell (4) – Kyusung Gong/AP Photo
This would mean that the participants at quarterback would likely be Bears undrafted rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent, and Raiders rookie backup quarterback Aidan O’Connell. Not exactly a showdown of the goliaths at quarterback, but it’s what both teams will likely throw out there. Let’s get into the week 7 preview and matchups to watch.
Matchups to Watch
Davante Adams Vs. Chicago Defense
Raiders WR Davante Adams (17) – Jason Hanna/Getty Images
Davante Adams has made major headlines this week with his comments after practice on 10/18. Essentially, he believes that he needs a bigger role in the offense for the team to be successful. The offense needs to flow through him and if they do that, he can lead them to greater heights. Every player in the NFL believes this about themselves and Adams is the best wide receiver in the league. He is correct. Not every player in the league has the confidence to say this with their chest out to the media like Adams does.
However, it could be noted that in his 3 least productive games where teams had him triple or even quadruple covered all game, the Raiders won. He attracts the attention of the entire defense so he isn’t destined to pop off every single game, unfortunately.
He’s also expressed dissatisfaction at how the team has scraped by on back-to-back wins. He wants to dominate every team the Raiders play against, and he wants to be the reason why.
I have no problem with what Davante was saying. I do feel like maybe he should have framed his comments better because nobody reads full quotes anymore. They just react to the headlines and when headlines read that he is unhappy with his usage despite getting the ball only almost 60% of the Raiders offensive plays, it doesn’t look good. Especially when it comes after back-to-back wins.
With all of that said, in this week 7 preview, I expect Adams to get a heavy dose of the targets this week. With “AOC” back there, Adams will be getting the football a lot more. He’s a rookie and rookie quarterbacks tend to stare down their first read and go through progressions slower than more experienced signal callers. Adams will almost always automatically be the first read on every passing play.
Adams also helped contribute to Aaron Rodgers’ personal ownage over the Chicago Bears when they were teammates in Green Bay. Looking at this week 7 preview, expect more of the same here. The Bears’ secondary is unfortunately not the strongest point of their team. The Bears defense is currently 29th in passing yards allowed per game.
If there was a week for the Raiders passing offense to finally get going, this might be the week. Look to Devante Adams to have a monster game against the former “Monsters of the Midway” and silence any of the haters out there.
Maxx Crosby vs. Bears Revolving Doors
The Chicago Bears offensive line is, shall we say, not good. This is the biggest reason why Justin Fields has gotten injured. He’s been hit and battered around this season quite often and has taken a lot of sacks unfortunately for him.
What doesn’t help for the Bears side of things in this week 7 preview is the litany of injuries. The Bears are looking at potentially missing both starting offensive tackles, 2 of their centers, and their starting right guard. The Bears are essentially “The Walking Dead” when it comes to how banged up the entire roster is as a whole.
In this week 7 preview, I expect the best player on the Raiders, Maxx Crosby to have an awesome game. Last week, he showcased that even double-team blocks couldn’t stop him. The Patriots last week had a tight end and right tackle attempt to block Crosby on the play where he got the game-sealing safety for the Raiders.
Whether your comparisons to Crosby are Ted Hendricks, Ben Davidson, or somebody else, Maxx Crosby has lived up to those comparisons his entire career especially this season. Even if the Bears dedicate their entire strategy on offense to stopping him, I don’t foresee Crosby not having at least 2 sacks on Sunday in Chicago.
Aidan O’Connell vs. Tyson Bagent
Las Vegas Raiders Quarterback(4)-Aidan O’Connell(Alex Gallardo/AP Photo)
The battle of the unheralded rookies in the week 7 preview, you love to see it. “AOC” was a 4th round pick who heavily impressed in the preseason, while Bagent managed to claw his way onto the Bears roster over more experienced backup quarterbacks like Nathan Peterman.
This is the likely quarterback duel that we will have. Jimmy G is injured and likely out with a back injury. Bears quarterback Justin Fields has a dislocated thumb on his throwing hand. It’s expected that if Jimmy G is down, the Raiders will turn to O’Connell to start with 37-year-old Brian Hoyer as the backup.
Both quarterbacks struggled heavily in their first appearances. O’Connell fumbled the football 3 times and threw a game-losing interception in the endzone against the Los Angeles Chargers. Bagent threw a pick 6 to the Vikings and finished with a passer rating of 56.5(a perfect game for reference is 158.9).
It is a battle of the rookies and in this week 7 preview, I give the nod to “AOC”. He didn’t have a lot of positives in his game against the Chargers, but he did manage to almost lead the team from behind after being down 24-7 at halftime. If not for critical mistakes both by himself and his head coach, the Raiders could’ve had an incredible comeback victory.
I expect Aidan O’Connell to go out and have a good game against the Bears. While I do expect Devante Adams to pop off, I think for a QB it’ll be a modest game for O’Connell all things considered. If he keeps the mistakes down and doesn’t let the moment overwhelm him, I like his chances to open up the offense more than what we have seen this season.
Prediction
Every game in this league should be considered a must-win game. It’s almost become a cliche at this point. At no point should you look down at your opponents either and expect that you should win no matter what since it leaves you vulnerable to getting upset. Just look at the 49ers and Eagles last week who each lost to backup quarterbacks on the road. Is this game a potential Bear trap for the Raiders?
I don’t see the Raiders overlooking this game. At 3-3, they have to know that every game is huge, especially at this point. They’ve fought their way back to a .500 record and now have the chance to push forward into having a winning record before taking on an incredibly tough opponent in the Detroit Lions next week in primetime.
The Raiders know they need to win this game. Against a wounded animal in the Chicago Bears, they are facing a team that could potentially be dangerous to any sort of aspirations they have for this season. I don’t think this will be a pretty game for either team especially with 2 backup rookie quarterbacks starting.
At the end of the day, I think it’ll be another win for the Silver and Black. The Bears are too mangled and tied up in their own issues to be much of a threat for anything but the first overall pick this season. This will be the game that pushes their season over the edge.
