Las Vegas Review-Journal

GRADING THE RAIDERS

- Ed Graney Review-journal

How the Raiders performed in a 30-12 loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday at Soldier Field:

Offense

It’s hard to describe this as an offense anymore. Not much is getting better, no matter who the quarterbac­k is. Brian Hoyer was the guy Sunday in place of the injured Jimmy Garoppolo (back) and struggled mightily, completing 17 of 32 for 129 yards with two intercepti­ons. The second was returned for a touchdown that made the score 30-6. Hoyer locked into one receiver most of the game and suffered for it. He also threw behind receivers on several passes. There is still no running game, Josh Jacobs finishing with 35 yards on 11 carries. Hoyer targeted wide receiver Davante Adams (seven catches, 57 yards) early, but then went away from him when Chicago’s defense began to take Adams away more and more. Aidan O’connell (10 of 13, 75 yards) threw a scoring pass to Jakobi Meyers in mop-up duty of Hoyer.

Defense

They were playing against an undrafted rookie and former Division II star quarterbac­k named Tyson Bagent, who was making his first NFL start. And all he did was complete 21 of 29 passes for 162 yards and a score, controllin­g things with his feet on several plays that kept drives alive. The Raiders’ tackling was horrible. So was the effort on a few plays that went for big gains. Linebacker Divine Deablo was lost to an ankle injury. Chicago killed the Raiders on third down, converting 8 of 13 for 62 percent. On an otherwise forgettabl­e day, rookie defensive end Tyree Wilson recorded his first career sack. Maxx Crosby added another.

Special teams

Daniel Carlson was obviously limited by injury, checked in pregame by trainers and then missing his first attempt, a 41-yarder. He later hit from 40. AJ Cole dropped both his punts inside the 11-yard line.

Coaching

Josh Mcdaniels insisted his team was ready to play. Maybe for a series or two. Then, just an awful performanc­e. This is the kind of loss that seriously questions a coach’s ability. Twentyfour games into his Raiders tenure, this was one of the worst outings we have seen from his side. His team failed in pretty much every phase of the game. It was that bad. Worse even than 30-12.

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