The Chicago Bears earned their first home win of the season with a 30-12 victory over the Raiders on Sunday, October 22, at Soldier Field.
With an thumb injury that held quarterback Justin Fields out of the game, Bears QB Tyson Bagent stepped in as his replacement and became the first undrafted rookie since at least 1960 to start a game at quarterback for the Bears.
Bagent finished Sunday’s game completing 21-of-29 passes for 162 yards and a touchdown in his first win as a starter. The fans supported him throughout the game.
“It’s amazing,” said Bagent about the crowd support. “Soldier Field was off the chain today. You couldn’t ask for a better weather day. I thought the crowd got involved right when they needed to, and I thought that helped our defense to continue to be as dominant as they have been the last couple of weeks, and kind of gave the offense a confidence boost with the chunk plays and all that was around Soldier Field today.”
The rookie QB connected with running back D’Onta Foreman for his first career touchdown pass on a five-yard reception to finish off a 15-play, 88-yard drive with 4:09 left in the third quarter.
Earlier in the game, Foreman also scored on a two-yard touchdown run with 3:49 left in the first quarter for the Bears’ first points of the afternoon.
The score by Foreman, capped off a 12-play, 69-yard drive for the team. Foreman finished Sunday’s game with 3 TD’s, 16 carries for 89 yards. According to the Bears, this marked his third career multi-touchdown game and tied his career high for touchdowns in a single game.
The Bears are averaging 6.1 yards per rush on third down this season -good enough for second best in the NFL behind the Kansas City Chiefs (7.6).
On the defensive side of the ball, Bears d-lineman Justin Jones got to Raiders quarterback Brian Hoyer in the third quarter, logging his first sack of the season.
He now has 8.5 sacks for -47.5 yards in his career. The Bears’ defense has 10.0 sacks on the season and 8.0 over their last three games. In the second quarter, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds recorded his first interception of the season and sixth of his career, setting up a three-yard touchdown run by Foreman to extend the Bears’ lead to 14-0 earlier in the game.
Defensive back Jaylon Johnson recorded his first interception of the season in the fourth quarter and returned it 39-yards for a touchdown. This marked his first-career defensive touchdown.
After the TD, Johnson caught his second interception later in the quarter and now has three for his career.
Since their game versus Kansas City, the Bears have not allowed a rushing touchdown since the second quarter of Week 3.
The team’s defense also have limited opponents to 114 rushing yards over the past three games.
In the fourth quarter, kicker Cairo Santos drilled a 54-yard field goal to cap off a 12-play, 37-yard drive to extend the Bears lead to 18. Santos remains perfect on field goals and is 15-16 extra points this season.
Final score: Bears 30, Raiders 12
With the victory, the Bears are now 2-5 on the season. They will play their next game on Sunday, October 29, against the Los Angeles Chargers on the road. Game time 7:20 pm.
Joseph Phillips is the Sports Editor for the Chicago Crusader Newspaper. He is a Chicago native, who has been a sports writer for over 17 years. He also hosts the SC Media News and Sports Network Q&A radio show on WHPK 88.5 FM Chicago.
