Friday, March 29, 2024

Bears Raiders week 5 on the edge

The last time I was here prediciting the score, I got the result correct in saying the Bears would sneak it against the Bengals; and I’m hoping to be right again as I think the Bears will edge it… Edge being the key word here, if you catch my drift (if you don’t, I will explain later).

I feel it will be a tight game, as both teams have some similar issues with similar parts of their teams. And looking at the change in fortunes from Week 4 for both teams, I feel like the Bears could have the valuable momentum going into Week 5.

The Bears head to Vegas coming off a solid win against the Lions thanks to a change in play calling and another powerful display from the defense. The play calling change saw the Bears run the ball 39 times resulting in 3 TDs (2 for Montgomery, 1 for Williams) and a more smash-in-mouth style than the static-pocket-ball Nagy likes.

It will look a little different for Week 5 with Monty sitting out with his injury – a big miss to any team – but the silver lining is that Williams was able to come in and get a TD of his own with the time he had on the field. He may be able to keep the train rolling in Monty’s absence against the Raiders who are allowing 5 yards-per-run.

This run game will be important as the Raiders have held their opposing QBs really well, not allowing them to get into a great rhythm despite some high scores. A tough prospect for Fields then, who has a set of ‘Jeckle and Hyde’ performances under this belt, and a shakey O-Line which doesn’t fill me with the greatest of confidence.

Over on the other side, The Raiders were handed their first L of the season (and even including preseason) coming in with a 2 score loss against the Chargers.

Derek Carr started the first 3 games looking like an MVP but was quickly brought back to mediocrity by the Chargers. He ended the game with 196yards, 2 TDs and an interception. It wasn’t dreadful, but getting just shy of 200 yards and less than on average 6 yards-per-pay isn’t good either; and this leads to the key point for the Bears.

This was the first game of the season that the Raiders got less than 20 points. The Raiders have hit scores of 33, 26 and 31; but needed it as their defense has allowed 27, 17 and 28 respectfully. Against the Chargers, they couldn’t muster the offense and were hit for another 28 points.

In short, they seem to have a porous defense and need the offense to turn up in a big way to win the games. What the Chargers did was stop the offense in their tracks. The Vegas O-Line allowed 4 sacks on Carr and 7 QB hits allowing for stalled drives, a loss in momentum and subsequent turnovers.

This is where the Bears have the Edge (told you I would explain).

Mack and Quinn have been on a roll since week 2, whilst other players have also chipped in with their fair share of pressure. Now they face a QB who proved to crumble when the pressure was on. This is excellent news for the Bears who are currently leading the league with 15 sacks from our edge rushers.

They hold the ticket to wining this game. A lot of this matchup could come down to which Defensive line has the best time roughing up the QB, and with the form that our edge rushers are in you would be hard pressed to bet against them. The Raiders will score, but will it be by enough? I don’t think so.

Bears 20 – Raiders 17

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