3 takeaways from the Bears 30-12 Victory Over the Raiders
Getting a victory in front of the home crowd was something the Bears had not done in 392 days before Sunday. However, with their victory over the Raiders on Sunday, they snapped their home losing streak. Snapping this losing streak was much needed as it shows fans the team can win at home. While it is important to celebrate what the team did well in this victory, it is also important to look at what they can improve on. With that in mind, these are the three big takeaways from the Bears’ win over the Raiders.
Clock management issues
Photo Credit: Chicago Bears
Bears head coach Matt Eberflus did not manage the clock well at times in the Bears' 30-12 victory over the Raiders. The drive that sticks out like a sore thumb is the two minute drill at the end of the first half. On this drive, the Bears still had all three timeouts, and Eberflus refused to use any of them. The only scenario that makes sense is if the player goes out of bounds on every completion. That did not happen on this drive, as many of the plays ended with players being down in bounds.
The drive began with 1:47 on the clock and a pass completion with the receiver getting out of bounds. The next two plays were also completed passes, but this time the players were tackled inbouds, whcih meant the clock ran to 1:04. Then the clock stopped at :59 seconds because of a false start. After that, quarterback Tyson Bagent completed two more chunk passes inbounds and no timeoutes were taken. That put the clock at :26 seconds, and on that play, Bagent threw an incompletion, stopping the clock at :19 seconds. After the incompletion, Bagent got sacked, and the first timeout was called. This timeout was a little too late for Eberflus and the Bears' offense, as they ended up not scoring anything after the two minute drill started off promising.
While this situation can normally be blamed on both the quarterback and the head coach Bagent gets pass for his part of the clock mismanagement since it is his first game. However, Eberflus has been head coach for over a year and needs to know how to manage the clock at this point, especially when a rookie backup quarterback is playing. If he continues to show poor clock management this season, he needs to be fired.
Defense continues to improve
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The Bears’ defense has played slightly better over the past two weeks. Improving in points allowed, turnovers, and third down conversion rate. In each of the past two games, the defense has allowed 12 points each. This is down from allowing 21+ in each of the first four weeks of the season. Allowing fewer points makes it easier for the offense to stay in the game. The defense has also created more turnovers in the past two weeks. They gathered one (arguably two) last week and picked up another two this week. This is a good sign for the Bears’ defense especially when your head coach preaches about taking the ball away.
The defense has also played better on third downs the past two weeks. Through the first five weeks of the season, the defense was nearly at a 60% conversion rate. However, that rate has dropped the past two weeks, with the Vikings being 2/13 on third downs and the Raiders being 2/9 on third down. Those numbers combine for a 12% third down conversion rate over the past two weeks. Seeing the defense play better the past two weeks has been nice but it has not been against great competition. That changes this week against a Chargers team that can be explosive. It is time to see if these improvements can continue against a better offense.
Too many penalties
The Bears committed nine penalties against the Raiders on Sunday. This is the second most they have committed all season, only behind the Broncos game, where they committed ten. Even though the nine penalties committed against the Raiders did not cost them the game, it is still worrying. That worry comes because creating penalties can become a habit whcih hurts in big moments in games. While the Bears may not be in big games this season, they might still be able to compete with some teams on their schedule. But if these penalty issues are not ironed out, then they will lose close games. Ultimately, these players need to be coached better so penalties stop happening.