Bears visit Raiders with both teams seeking second win of the season

BetMGM NFL Odds: Bears by 1.

Against the spread: Bears 1-2; Raiders 1-2.

Series record: Bears lead, 9-8.

Last week: Bears defeated Cowboys 31-14; Raiders lost to Commanders 41-24.

Last meeting: Bears beat Raiders 30-12 at Chicago on Oct. 22, 2023.

Bears offense: overall (10), rush (15), pass (11), scoring (9).

Bears defense: overall (29), rush (26t), pass (27), scoring (29t).

Raiders offense: overall (16), rush (30), pass (6), scoring (26).

Raiders defense: overall (24), rush (19t), pass (24), scoring (23).

Turnover differential: Bears plus-2; Raiders minus-1.

Bears player to watch

QB Caleb Williams. Williams had what might be his best game as a pro last week, matching a career high with four touchdown passes while throwing for 298 yards. The No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft, he was 19 of 28 with no interceptions and a personal-best 142.6 passer rating. Williams also went without being sacked for the first time in his career, no small feat for a player who was taken down a league-leading and franchise-record 68 times as a rookie. It was just the sort of performance he needed after a shaky start to the season.

Raiders player to watch

RB Ashton Jeanty. He hasn't had much room to run behind a shaky offensive line, so Jeanty hasn't resembled the kind of back who was the Heisman Trophy runner-up last year at Boise State in rushing for 144 yards through three games. But he has shown glimpses of the rugged back who shined in college. His 13th missed tackles are eighth highest among running backs, according to Next Gen Stats. At the time, according to Next Gen, his 2.4-yard average after contact is worst among backs with at least 25 carries.

Key matchup

Raiders wide receivers vs. Bears secondary. Las Vegas' best path to victory appears to be whether it can take advantage of a Chicago secondary that ranks near the bottom in passing yards allowed. If those defensive backs, however, can keep the Raiders from beating them deep and force more time-consuming drives, that would give the Bears a major advantage.

Key injuries

Bears: CB Kyler Gordon (hamstring) has missed all three games. ... TE Colston Loveland (hip) was hurt in the first half last week. ... RT Darnell Wright (elbow), LB T.J. Edwards (hamstring) and DT Grady Jarrett (knee) were also banged up.

Raiders: TE Michael Mayer (concussion) is in protocol this week. ... S Jeremy Chinn (pectoral) and Decamerion Richardson (hamstring) were limited in practice Wednesday.

Series notes

The Bears have won three of the past four meetings and five of seven. ... This is the Bears' second game in Las Vegas. They also visited in 2021, winning 20-9. ... The franchises have met in five cities. In addition to Chicago, Las Vegas, Oakland and San Francisco, they also played each other in London in 2019. The Raiders won that game 24-21.

Stats and stuff

The Bears are one win away from joining Green Bay as the only franchises with 800 regular-season victories. The Packers have 812. ... Ben Johnson got his first win as an NFL head coach last week. ... Williams is tied with Detroit’s Jared Goff and Pittsburgh’s Aaron Rodgers for second in the NFL with seven touchdown passes. ... WR Rome Odunze has caught at least one TD in each of the first three games and has four on the season — tied for the league lead with Detroit’s Amon-Ra St. Brown and Las Vegas’ Tre Tucker. His four TD catches tied a franchise record for the first three games of a season. If he catches one this week, he would become the first Bears player with TD receptions in four straight games since Alshon Jeffery’s six-game run in 2014. ... Odunze and Raiders CB Kyu Blu Kelly were high school teammates at Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas. ... Rookie Luther Burden caught three passes for 101 yards last week, including a 65-yarder on a flea-flicker for his first career TD. ... With 20 touchdown catches, Cole Kmet needs one to pass Greg Olsen for second most by a Bears tight end. ... S Kevin Byard III had his 30th career interception last week, second most among active players. ... Raiders WR Tre Tucker has four touchdown catches, tied for the NFL lead. Three were in Sunday's loss at Washington. ... Las Vegas' 38-game streak with at least one sack is the longest active one. ... QB Geno Smith's 831 yards passing is second only to Los Angeles Chargers QB Justin Herbert's 860. ... Brock Bowers can extend his streak to 21 games with at least two catches, which would tie the longest for a tight end to open a career. Detroit’s Sam LaPorta set the record in 2023-24. ... Chinn is looking for his sixth consecutive season with at least one sack. Only six other defensive backs, going back to 1982 when the statistic became official, have had at least one sack each of their first six seasons. … A victory would move coach Pete Carroll into a tie with Bill Parcells for 16th in NFL history with 172 wins. ... The Raiders' 20 tackles for loss are the third most this season behind New England (22) and Tampa Bay (21). ... Las Vegas has created 15 plays of 20 yards or longer, behind on Baltimore's 16.

Fantasy tip

Odunze returns to his hometown and likely will want to make a statement. Williams has a comfort level with Odunze, targeting him 27 times this season. Odunze has just 16 catches, but he has scored four touchdowns and is plus-11 in expected points added, according to Next Gen Stats. Given the Raiders' struggles on the back end, he could have an opportunity to put up big numbers.

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