Although Justin Fields has technically been the starter for the past two weeks, the Justin Fields era officially begins this weekend after he was named QB1 on the Bears depth chart this week. Fields and the Bears will be in Sin City to take on the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, and while it’s going to be a tough early test for the rookie QB, there are certainly some paths to victory for Chicago.
Sunday’s matchup with the Raiders will be the Bears’ first late game (3:05 pm) of the season, so you can turn those alarms off and sleep in this week.
Showdown in Sin City. ⚔️#CHIvsLV | 🎨: oscar_joyo/IG
Curated by All Star Press Chicago pic.twitter.com/RZeSmvTXRt— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) October 8, 2021
“Never Tell Me The Odds”
The DraftKings SportsBook lists the Bears (2-2) as 5.5-point underdogs against the Raiders (3-1). Over/under: 44.5. More on the odds and ATS picks here.
Series History:
The Bears trail the all-time series against the Raiders 8-7, and the Raiders won the last contest between the two when Vegas beat the Bears 24-21 in London on October 6, 2020.
Game Time, Broadcast Info, Officiating Crew:
Location: Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas
Broadcast Info: Sunday, October 10 at 3:05 CT on CBS-TV (Ian Eagle, Charles Davis, Evan Washburn), WBBM-AM 780 and WCFS-FM 105.9 (Jeff Joniak, Tom Thayer, Mark Grote), SportsUSA Radio (Larry Kahn, Mark Carrier)
Officials: Craig Wrolstad (referee)
Expected Starters and Lineups:
CHICAGO BEARS (2-2, 1-0 NFC North)
POINTS FOR: 64 (16.0 PPG, 30th of 32 teams)
POINTS AGAINST: 91 (22.8 PPG, 10th of 32)
Offense
• QB Justin Fields
• RB Damien Williams
• WRs Allen Robinson II, Darnell Mooney, Marquise Goodwin
• TE Cole Kmet
• LT Jason Peters, LG Cody Whitehair, C Sam Mustipher, RG James Daniels, RT Germain Ifedi
Unavailable: OL Teven Jenkins, RB/PR Tarik Cohen, RB David Montgomery
Defense
• DT Akiem Hicks, NT Eddie Goldman, DE Bilal Nichols
• OLBs Khalil Mack, Robert Quinn
• ILBs Roquan Smith, Alec Ogletree
• CBs Jaylon Johnson, Kindle Vildor
• FS Eddie Jackson
• SS Tashaun Gipson Sr.
Unavailable: LB Danny Trevathan
Specialists
• Cairo Santos (kicker), Pat O’Donnell (punter, holder), Patrick Scales (long snapper), Nsimba Webster (punt returns), Khalil Herbert (kick returns)
Expected Starters and Lineups:
LAS VEGAS RAIDERS (3-1, 0-1 AFC West)
POINTS FOR: 104 (26.0 PPG, 9th of 32 teams)
POINTS AGAINST: 100 (25.0 PPG, 19th of 32)
Offense
• QB Derek Carr
• RB Josh Jacobs, FB Alec Ingold
• WRs Henry Ruggs III, Bryan Edwards
• TEs Darren Waller
• LT Kolton Miller, LG John Simpson, C Andre James, RG Jermaine Eluemunor, RT Alex Leatherwood
Defense
• DEs Yannick Ngakoue, Maxx Crosby DTs Quinton Jefferson, Solomon Thomas NT Johnathan Hankins
• SAM K.J. Wright, MIKE Denzel Perryman, Nick Kwiatkowski WILL Cory Littleton
• LCB Trayvon Mullen Jr., RCB Casey Hayward Jr.
• FS Tre’von Moehrig, SS Jonathan Abraham
Specialists
• Daniel Carlson (kicker), A.J. Cole (punter, holder), Trent Sieg (long snapper), Kenyan Drake, Hunter Renfrow (kick and punt returns)
Three Bears …
Justin Fields took Chicago by storm last Sunday and took the starting job from Andy Dalton. Now it’s his time to shine, but it’s going to be anything but easy at the onset as Fields and the Bears are staring down a road matchup with the Raiders. I could simplify this to “if Justin Fields does what he did last week, the Bears will be in good shape,” but the Raiders aren’t exactly the Lions, so it’ll be a bit trickier than that. Fields will have to be better than he was against Detroit if he hopes to help the Bears beat Vegas and ultimately weather the storm as they navigate their way through a gauntlet month on the schedule.
Khalil Mack is currently on the injury report with a pair of nagging ailments, but when hasn’t he been on the injury report since he came to Chicago? I have faith that Mack will be a go this Sunday against his former team and the guy that traded him to Chicago, Jon Gruden. If Mack is a go this Sunday, he’ll be able to wreak havoc on a struggling Raiders offensive line that gave up four sacks to the Chargers in their Monday Night Football loss last week.
Damien Williams will take over for David Montgomery for the foreseeable future. David Montgomery left last week’s win over Detroit with a knee sprain, and now Damien Williams has some big shoes to fill this week. We saw last week how impactful Bill Lazor’s heavy use of the running game was on the passing game, and that’ll surely be the game plan again this week, even with a new lead back handling the bulk of the load.
