The Las Vegas Raiders had an excellent opportunity to climb back into the AFC playoff race, but they found a way to get dominated in Week 7 by the Chicago Bears.
Although they were without Jimmy Garoppolo, the Bears were also trotting out a backup in Tyson Bagent, who thoroughly outplayed Brian Hoyer. Bagent didn’t threaten the defense vertically, but his command of the offense and patience in moving the football allowed Chicago to score consistently and efficiently.
Meanwhile, Hoyer looked out of his depth when Las Vegas started to trail as he made several ill-advised throws. The veteran was picked off twice and later subbed out for rookie Aidan O’Connell.
Instead of moving to 4-3, the Raiders find themselves at 3-4 and have several questions to answer about themselves and the roster. Fans predictably were upset, and one went so far as to urge Mark Davis to dire head coach Josh McDaniels via Mitchell Renz of Raiders Report:
Raiders fan telling Mark Davis to “Smarten Up” and Fire Josh McDaniels
Keep turning the heat up #RaiderNation pic.twitter.com/JcHbTec2KI
— Raiders Report Mitchell Renz (@MitchellRenz365) October 24, 2023
In the clip, a fan is seen holding up a sign that reads “JUST FIRE JOSH” and can be heard telling Davis to “smarten up.” Later in the video, the back of the sign can be seen that has another message reading, “WE DESERVE BETTER!” a reference to the Raiders fanbase who is sick of seeing the team lose.
Fans have been fed up with the team as they constantly look ill-prepared on a weekly basis, and a lot of their frustrations are aimed at McDaniels, who has done little to quell their concerns. Even though the Raiders were able to pick up a couple of wins, it still feels like Las Vegas is fighting an uphill battle.
So far, Davis has been publicly supportive of McDaniels, and there are no murmurings of his seat getting hot. However, another letdown performance could force his hand sooner rather than later.
Maxx Crosby calls performance against Bears an embarrassment
The defense got punked against Chicago as they were unable to stop them from getting into the red zone. Maxx Crosby was critical of the team in all three phases and called their collective performance an embarrassment.
