August 25, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) calls a play against the Oakland Raiders in the first quarter at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-US PRESSWIRE

A major scare happened for the Detroit Lions  yesterday while playing in Oakland and no it wasn’t the Raiders fans.  Matthew Stafford watched in horror as his left hand blew up on the sideline after Dave Tollefson drove him  to the ground after an incomplete pass. While falling to the ground Tollefson helmet and Stafford’s left hand collided.  It looked very bad for Stafford with bandages and a brace being applied, but the team and the city were relieved when X-rays were negative.  Stafford was 8-10 for 68 yards before the injury, and he is not expected (like almost every other regular starter in the NFL) to play in the last pre-season game but should be ready for their opening game versus the St Louis Rams on September 9th.

Stafford wasn’t the only injury the Raiders inflicted upon the Lions.  The Raiders roughed up two cornerbacks in Bill Bentley and Chris Houston. Bentley has a shoulder injury while Houston has an ankle injury.  Running Back Kevin Smith left the game with what looked like a serious ankle injury, but his X-ray’s like Staffords were negative.  A lot of injuries but all of these players without any setbacks are expected to be on the playing field week one.

The scariest part of the game really should be that Mikel Leshoure has not established anything so far in the pre-season.  Even though he is suspended for the first two games, Leshoure is able to practice and play in the pre-season. He has dressed for the pre-season, but he has hardly played or impressed,  and when he’s been given the ball it hasn’t been very productive. Leshoure carried 5 times for 1 yard and had 1 catch for 6 yards.  The Lions have a lot of hope that he will be RB1 after his suspension, but his pre-season production diminishes that anticipation!

It was BEARly worth mentioning, but they are our rival!

DA BEARS

Forte shows old form in his 89-yard TD run (Photo courtesy of Chicago Tribune)

One of the few highlights from Saturday’s preseason loss was Matt Forte’s long touchdown run against the Raiders.   First, take a look at the video from NFL.com here.   Trust me, it will work much better if you watch the video.  Then follow me after the jump.

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Believe it or not, Al Davis is airbrushed in this picture. He's scarier looking in real life! (Courtesy of Bearscast)

The Bears take on the Oakland Raiders this weekend at Soldier Field.  I am actually going to a wedding this weekend, so my review of the game won’t be coming until later Sunday night.  I know, who get’s married when there’s a Bears game going on, right?  At least it’s preseason!

Post your reactions, question, comments below and I’ll try to react when I break down the game film.

If you go to the game, e-mail your pictures from the action at Soldier Field to beargoggles.boomer@gmail.com or send me a message through Twitter @beargoggleson and I’ll roll them into a post or try to work them into a caption contest.

BEAR DOWN!!!

The Bears look to bounce back on Saturday night when they open up Soldier Field for 2010 to host the Oakland Raiders.   Hopefully Oakland doesn’t blitz, so we can get a longer look at Jay Cutler and the first team offense.  Things seem to start off well.  After another slow start in the first quarter, Jay Cutler opens it up with a pass that we hope to see a lot this season – a bomb to Johnny Knox!

Did you notice the back step up to pick up the pass rush? That’s what was missing in last week’s game.

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August 12-15 @ Chargers

The Bears will head to San Diego to face former teammate Nathan Vasher, who just signed a deal to rejoin former DC Bears Ron Rivera and the Chargers.  Jay Cutler should get a warm welcome from his former AFC West rivals and his buddy Phillip Rivers.  It will be weird to be in San Diego and not see LT donning the lightening bolts.

August 19-22 Raiders

Julius Peppers will make his Soldier Field debut against the Silver and Black as the Raiders roll into town.  The big question for me is whether he’ll be chasing down Donovan McNabb Jamarcus Russell or someone else for the enigmatic Raiders.  This is another team that Cutler knows well from his Broncos days, so it should be interesting.

August 26 – 29 Cardinals

The Cardinals roll into Soldier Field for the all-important 3rd preseason game.   Without Kurt Warner or Anquan Boldin, the Arizona offense will definitely take on a new look and all of this while the defense suffered losses of their own.  I think it will be a down year for the Cards and no better place to start it than right here at Soldier Field.  The starters play into the third quarter, so this is a great one to go to Soldier Field to check out.

September 2 – 5 @ Browns

For some unknown reason, the Bears have some longstanding tradition of playing the Browns in the preseason. Why?  Beats me, but they’ll face off with the new-look Browns to close out the practice schedule.  This is a throwaway game that will feature Jerry Angelo’s busts, I mean draft picks, battling for the last few spots on the roster.

There are rumors circulating that the NFL will release the full schedule on April 13th, so stay tuned.

ESPN 1000′s Waddle and Silvy had Jackson on their show this morning.  Here are some choice excerpts:

“I’ve been to the Raiders and spent time with [owner] Mr. [Al] Davis and talking to [coach] Tom Cable,” Jackson said on “The Waddle & Silvy Show” on ESPN 1000. “I had worked with Tom. We had worked together in college, and we have very similar thoughts, and the biggest thought is that we want to win. I was very impressed with my time with Mr. Davis, talking about his vision, talking about his vision for me, for the organization and what he is trying to accomplish. It just kind of worked out.

“I woke up, and I don’t ever want to lead anybody on. [Bears coach] Lovie [Smith] is such a great man, and I didn’t want to go down [to Chicago] and think I was going to put my all into it when I knew my heart was in California. I’m from California. It’s a chance for me to go back home among family and friends and try to do everything I can to help the Raiders get back to where they want to be.”

When asked about Jay Cutler and how he may have factored into his decision, Jackson had this to say:

“With great expectations comes great performance. I’m sure Jay relishes in that,” Jackson said. “He’s played real well in his career. The guy has been a Pro Bowl player. It was a new start for him and obviously things were a little bit different for him. I suspect he will come back this year and have a great season.

“My decision had nothing to do with Jay. If you look at both situations, obviously Jay is the more established quarterback. There’s more to it. It’s the whole team. When I looked at the whole situation with family from California and the Raiders’ tradition. I grew up rooting for the Rams and Raiders.”

You know what makes this situation even worse?  It’s the fact that I didn’t know who the fuck Hue Jackson was yesterday and today I’m mad he’s not coming here.

So the California weather, Raiders tradition and whole team, crazy-ass owner Al Davis and JaMarcus Russel swayed him to go to Oakland.  Wow, I didn’t realize how pathetic this situation was.  I used to call it Jokeland, but guess what Bears fans, the JOKE is on US.

For complete details of the prime time schedule that has been released, click here.

My first reaction in glancing at the first games is that Green Bay and Oakland will have at least two national games; one each on opening weekend and another on Thanksgiving as the Pack head to Detroit and the Raiders off to Big D.  The Raiders also cap off a Monday night double header against San Diego on September 14th.  Oakland with two national games?  Did I miss something?  Since when do they merit even being shown in Oakland.   So get ready for plenty of shots like this one.

More details from the NFL owner’s meetings should be forthcoming this week, while the rest of the schedule should be released in April.

BEAR DOWN!!!