Week 4 between the Las Vegas Raiders and Chicago Bears will see two teams looking to get to .500, with both teams entering this clash at 1-2. However, Bears head coach Ben Johnson had a blunt message about who is the favorite in this game.
Chicago come into this clash having made easy work of the Dallas Cowboys in Week 3 to secure the first win of the Johnson era. Meanwhile, the Raiders are coming off two straight defeats, with the most recent coming against the Washington Commanders.
The Bears have the most confidence of the two. However, Ben Johnson believes his side is heading to Las Vegas as the underdog.
“We’re looking to piggyback on that performance here and go for our first road win here this week,” Johnson told reporters on September 22 (h/t Ari Meirov). “We’re road underdogs already. I think Vegas has picked to beat us. We got to come out and have another great week of preparation, and I’ll go ahead and open it up.”
This season, Chicago’s win over the Cowboys was Caleb Williams’s best game. The USC product completed 19 of 28 passes for 298 passing yards and four touchdowns. As a result, the Raiders’ defense will need to play better than how they did against the Commanders.
Raiders Will Need to Play Better Against the Bears
After the loss to the Commanders, Raiders star pass rusher Maxx Crosby didn’t hold back his self-criticism of the team. If the Silver and Black want to snap the two-game losing streak, they must ensure that the standard they set during the week is shown on gameday.
“We just didn’t play good enough in all three phases,” Crosby told reporters after the loss to the Commanders. “It’s just not our standard. We got to play better. we got to start fast and finish better. I feel like we had moments where we played well, but just overall it just wasn’t a good performance on all three levels.”
What Do the Raiders Need to Do to Win?
Crosby pointed out that the whole team didn’t meet their usual standard, noting that the small details in the game ultimately led to their downfall and handed the Commanders the win. Now, the Raiders must focus on those details to ensure a win over the Bears.
Moreover, Crosby notes that they cannot afford to make excuses for themselves, whether it’s a short week or flying cross-country.
“I mean, we didn’t play well, so we just got to play better,” Crosby added. “It’s as simple as that. Short week, there’s no excuses. Everybody has short weeks during the season. It’s just how you prepare. We just got to play better. There’s never going to be excuses with this group. We know, everybody knows, we got to take accountability and we got Chicago [in Week 4] at home, so we got a lot of work to do until then.”
After two good games that gave the Raiders a chance to win, Crosby and the rest of the defense laid an egg against Washington. As a result, they will look for a bounce-back performance and make it a challenging game for Williams.
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