Chicago Bears: 3 keys to beat the Oakland Raiders
By Adam Childs
1. Stop the run
Derek Carr has been good but not great this year, but he isn’t who the Raiders have leaned on the most. When they have won they have had Josh Jacobs grind out yards and control the clock. While he doesn’t have gaudy numbers as Dalvin Cook did coming into the game with the Bears, he has been pretty effective.
The Bears defense has been great at stopping the run and they need to do that again. Last week against the Vikings they limited Cook to just 35 yards rushing and completely dominated the Minnesota offense.
Carr will make mistakes for the Raiders as he has thrown three interceptions and if the Bear can slow the run game down and force him to make plays it should play into their hands. Carr has shown more promise than Kirk Cousins so he is capable of winning games, but the Raiders have shown they want to run the ball to control the game and the Bears need to limit that.
Keep the Raiders from chewing up clock and getting in a rhythm and the Bears should be in good shape for the game. Fortunately, this is something that Chicago has been very good at this year and should be able to continue this week against Oakland.