The Real Test Comes Tonight for Oakland Raiders

  The Raiders take on the Bears tonight for the all-important third preseason game where both teams will test their first team probably deep into the 3rd quarter if not into the 4th.  So is it good that Oakland has to take on one of the league’s best defenses?  Yes because if the Raiders could barely stop the Saints defense who was horrible last year, they are going to need a reality check in how hard real defenses are going to come at them. The Bears have forced 4 turnovers in both of their first two preseason games and got all four against the chargers in the first 16 minutes last week.  So the Raiders better be ready for some big hits like the one Jonathan Bostic put on Mike Willie last week and they better hold on to the ball if they expect their offense to have any type of chance because Flynn is going to be lucky to have 3 seconds per snap to get rid of the ball. Flynn seems to have all but locked up the starting position but whether or not that means he is going to have a chance to showcase his talent is still up in the air.  Flynn can have all the talent in the world but with no protection he won’t ever get a chance to show the world that he can play.  His stats so far have given Raider fans a reason to be excited although it’s hard after ten straight years of poor play. The “Team of the Decades” has officially gone a decade since making the playoffs or really even being relevant in the NFL and although Reggie Mckenzie has done well so far in fixing old mistakes, an unprecedented 38% of the team’s salary is tied up in players that are no longer associated with the team.  Oakland can only hope this dead money will spring life into the organization in 2014.