Raiders head coach Hue Jackson has this thing about building a bully.
On Sunday afternoon, the Raiders' defense bullied the Chicago Bears in a 25-20 win, but they did it, in part, by opening up a can of intellectual whup-butt. Whatever happened to the days when the Raiders simply hit people harder? Now they're outsmarting people in the video room.
Take the Raiders' linebackers.
The Bears were confident they had found a soft spot in the Raiders' defense, and it was the linebackers.
Before the game, a Bears assistant coach mentioned to an acquaintance that the Bears thought the Raiders' linebackers could be worked, because (he said) they just don't run that well. It's not that they lack speed, but they simply don't move well in space. Supposedly.
The Bears are a playoff-caliber team, they were riding a five-game win streak, so they seem to know what they're doing.
But on Sunday, the Bears were unable to flummox or bamboozle the Raiders' linebackers, certainly not on a regular basis.
The Raiders' linebackers did a little studying of their own.
Just before halftime, the Raiders led 9-7 but were in trouble. After a Raiders' off-side penalty, the Bears had 2nd-and-1 at the Raiders' 7.
Bears quarterback Caleb Hanie, making his first NFL start, had just thrown a TD pass and seemed to be adjusting to his new role. He set up a misdirection screen pass, looking right, then throwing back to the left flat to Matt Forte.
Bad call.
The pass skidded through the hands of linebacker Aaron Curry but was plucked out of the air by linebacker Kamerion Wimbley, who returned it 73 yards before being horse-collared at the Bears' 12. That set up a field goal. Instead of trailing 14-9 at the half, the Raiders led 12-7.
"The interesting thing about that"
intercepted screen pass, Curry said, "is that from watching film, I saw the play before. They ran the exact play, same formation, after a motion (penalty) against Tampa Bay in London. It was right before the half, they wanted to get a touchdown going into halftime, and they ran the same exact play."
"I'll never forget seeing it on film and saying, 'That's their go-to play. If they need these points, that's their play.' Then I saw the formation on the field and I was like, 'This is easy, I'm just going to wait for them to throw it to me.' "
On Wimbley's interception return, the Bears were right about the Raiders' linebackers' running skills. Wimbley, 6-foot-4 and 255, got hauled down (illegally) by tackle Lance Louis, 6-3 and 320.
