Chicago Bears @ Las Vegas Raiders
Final Score: Bears 25, Raiders 24
Writer: Chris Helle (@ChrisHelleQBL on Twitter/X, Reddit)
I think these teams might have misinterpreted what “win the turnover battle” means. The Bears started with a 3-and-out, but that’s better than Geno Smith throwing a horrendous interception on his first possession. Chicago could only convert the good field position into 3 points, but they forced a fumble against Ashton Jeanty on the ensuing drive. You’d think they’d look for redemption to convert this one into seven, but Caleb Williams threw a pass that was both deflected and intercepted by Maxx Crosby. Vegas put together a solid 7-play, 66-yard drive to convert on this turnover via a receiving touchdown from Jeanty. Crosby was all over the field, blowing up plays regardless of whether it was on the ground or pressuring Williams. Geno threw another interception, and again, Chicago had to settle for 3. Lightning struck on a quick response for the Raiders as the 6th-overall pick broke 3 tackles for a 64-yard touchdown. It took 9 plays for the Bears to gain 37 yards and cut the lead to a score of 14-9 going into the half. It didn’t stop there, though, as Geno threw his third interception on the first play of the second half. Capitalizing on this turnover, Williams hit Rome Odunze for a 27-yard TD to retake the lead. Vegas responded again with a clinical 10-play, 80-yard drive capped by Jeanty’s third touchdown of the game, his second through the air. After a trade of field goals and punts, Chicago put together their best drive of the day – 11 plays and 69 yards. D’Andre Swift burst around the edge for a 2-yard score to propel the Bears to a 25-24 lead with 1:34 on the clock. A kick return out to the Vegas 38-yard line was followed by a few chunk plays by Brock Bowers, setting the stage for a 54-yard, go-ahead field goal. The snap, the hold, and it was blocked! The Bears hung on for a much-needed victory to get them back to 0.500, while the Raiders dropped a heartbreaker and fell to 1-3.
One Up
- Ashton Jeanty — The game we’ve all been waiting for. Three all-purpose TDs, one of which was a 64-yard breakaway run with three missed tackles forced along the way.
Two Down
- Geno Smith — Geno had multiple really poor reads that resulted in interceptions. He’ll have to clean up his decision-making to provide this offense with a more respectable passing attack.
- Jakobi Meyers — it felt like he was mailing in the bag during this game. All three of Geno’s interceptions were in his direction, though the blame goes to Meyers for only one of them.
Chicago Bears
Quarterback
Caleb Williams: 22/37, 212 Yards, 1 TD, 1 INT | 8 Carries, 13 Yards, 2 FUM (Recovered)
While it was the right move to address the offensive line, the unit is far from a comfortable situation, and Caleb looks like he hasn’t shaken off some bad habits from last season. He’s jittery in the pocket, and there’s a 50/50 chance whether he sets his feet and drives the ball through the throw. When he did use proper mechanics, his throws were on point. Unfortunately, he was being chased around the entire game by Maxx Crosby. With his athleticism, he was able to extend a number of plays and avoided taking any sacks, but he had some opportunities to scramble that he elected to make an off-balance throw. He might’ve made some wrong decisions on a couple of read-options as well, whether it was missing an opportunity to keep it or calling his own number and taking a tackle for loss. A number of his passes were batted at the line of scrimmage by Crosby, one of which Crosby tracked off the deflection into an interception. But his touchdown to Rome Odunze was a clean, strong strike right up the seam.
Running Back
D’Andre Swift: 14 Carries, 38 Yards, 1 TD | 6 Targets, 4 Receptions, 22 Yards
Swift had a strong game considering the opportunities he was given. He was tackled immediately behind the line of scrimmage a handful of times, so don’t hold too much weight on the 2.7 yards per carry. There was a toss play that could have easily been a loss of 5 that Swift cut back inside of four guys to turn into a 5-yard gain. He had a couple runs and a screen that got called back by penalties, but his 2-yard touchdown was a smooth acceleration around the edge to sneak into the corner of the endzone. The two incompletions his way were a swing pass that Caleb zipped into his face before he could even get his hands up, and a screen pass that was blown up with the pass being thrown at his feet. With this offensive line, expect the checkdown work to continue to provide a safe floor for his passing production.
Kyle Monangai: 4 Carries, 18 Yards
The 7th-round rookie has earned his way as the clear RB2 in this backfield. He’s a bruising runner who forces missed tackles by just running straight through them. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him utilized in short goalline situations, but the snap share is too small at the moment to make him anything more than a TD-dependent handcuff to stash on your bench.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Rome Odunze: 8 Targets, 4 Receptions, 69 Yards, 1 TD
The touchdown salvaged what could have been a really tough game for Rome Odunze managers. He didn’t have a target until the end of the first half, but hauled in the nice 15-yard out. Another pass at the end of the half was a deep crosser that Caleb threw way over his head. He got tagged with a few targets that were throwaway passes as Caleb was scrambling toward the sidelines, and a target on a 2-point conversion that was horrendously underthrown. Rome was out there all game; there just weren’t many viable opportunities on longer developing pass plays.
Cole Kmet: 9 Targets, 3 Receptions, 46 Yards
Because the line couldn’t hold up for longer pass plays to develop, this game fell more into the hands of Cole Kmet. He was the quick, short-area target that provided the safety outlet underneath. Unfortunately, most of those quick passes occurred when Caleb had antsy feet and threw slightly off-target passes that allowed the defense to break up the completions. The single time Caleb actually set his feet and threw a nice ball his way, Kmet dropped the would-be 20-yard gain up the seam. Kmet’s target share could take a hit with the impending return of Colston Loveland.
DJ Moore: 5 Targets, 4 Receptions, 38 Yards
The most encouraging thing for DJ Moore is that Ben Johnson is moving him all over the formation and into the backfield. He had a screen drawn up for him on the first drive that was broken up by Crosby, but otherwise brought in all of his passes. The most concerning thing for Moore owners is that Olamide Zaccheaus continues to maintain his slice of snap share and targets. This offense looks like it really struggles to stay on the field due to both offensive line & procedural issues, which in turn makes the pie smaller to split. DJ isn’t going away any time soon, but his floor feels a whole lot lower than it has in years past.
Olamide Zaccheaus: 6 Targets, 5 Receptions, 41 Yards
Oh, Oladmide. The player nobody wants to have in fantasy, but who always seems to be the thorn in the side of every other pass catcher. If we pretended we didn’t know who the players on this offense are or what they looked like, Zaccheaus looks to be the number 2 option on this offense behind Rome Odunze. His involvement is nothing flashy, but super reliable. Hitches, slants, quick outs, and screens. These are plays Ben Johnson will continue to lean on as they open up things for the more fun, higher-value opportunities for other players. He’s not the most explosive playmaker with the ball in his hands, but it sure does seem like he’ll have a handful of these catches in every game.
Luther Burden III: 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, -4 Yards
Las Vegas Raiders
Quarterback
Geno Smith: 14/21, 117 Yards, 2 TDs, 3 INT | 4 Carries, 31 Yards
Three interceptions is really all you need to take away from this one. Geno made some really bad reads on two of them, but the third could be put on the shoulders of Jakobi Meyers not making a stronger play on the ball. He looked stoic in the pocket and actually threw the ball nicely. The issue was his misreads or forcing passes into tight windows. If he cleans up his decision-making, he should be the Geno we know from last year, who can put up big numbers through the air. Passing volume might be a concern with Jeanty around, and their left tackle was injured.
Running Back
Ashton Jeanty: 21 Carries, 138 Yards, 1 TD, 1 FUM (Lost) | 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 17 Yards, 2 TDs
This was the game we’ve all been waiting for from the prodigal RB. The stats on missed tackles forced finally resulted in some meaningful runs and valuable fantasy production. It helped to see the offensive line make some movement on Chicago’s front, but it really felt like Jeanty either got hit right as the ball was put in his gut (which is what happened on the fumble) or he made at least two guys miss. Chip Kelley may have figured out some gap schemes to create seams for Jeanty to find and let him do the rest.
Raheem Mostert: 4 Carries, 62 Yards | 1 Target, 1 Reception, 11 Yards
Raheem Mostert was a healthy inactive the first few weeks, but the coin flipped with Zamir White being inactive and Mostert getting some field time. He only played 8 snaps compared to Jeanty’s 44, but he made the most of his limited opportunities. He broke off a big 37-yard run on his third carry, which in all honesty could have been a house call if the ball were in Jeanty’s hands. There’s really nothing to see here from a fantasy standpoint. The RB2 role in this offense will have very limited opportunities behind Jeanty and likely won’t provide any upside as a handcuff.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Brock Bowers: 6 Targets, 5 Receptions, 46 Yards
Geno’s interceptions certainly didn’t help, but the opportunities for Brock Bowers might’ve also been limited by his knee injury. He wore a huge brace during the game, and really wasn’t involved until later on when the game was on the line. Three of his five catches came on the last two possessions, which is why it seems to hint that the team didn’t want to use him unless they really had to. Luckily, he has some more time to recover so he can fall back into the beast mode role we know he’s capable of.
Jakobi Meyers: 7 Targets, 4 Receptions, 30 Yards
This was a really poor game from Meyers, both in fantasy and on the field. He had three early targets on the Raiders’ first drive – a 9-yard catch on the first, a broken up pass on the second, and then Kevin Byard undercut his route to intercept the third. He had a holding penalty called against him that negated a 15-yard gain from Tre Tucker, and had a Brian Thomas-esque play where he didn’t make a play on a ball over the middle that resulted in another interception for Geno. These issues didn’t affect his snap count, and he created enough separation on his outs & hitches for his few catches.
Tre Tucker: 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 13 Yards | 2 Carries, 9 Yards
Dont’e Thornton Jr.: 2 Targets, 0 Receptions