The Las Vegas Raiders suffered arguably the worst loss of Week 7 of any team in the NFL. While they didn’t lose by the most points, as that title is held by the Detroit Lions, the circumstances for Las Vegas were much worse.
Going on the road in the NFL and winning games certainly isn’t easy, especially when you don’t have your starting quarterback. The Raiders were without Jimmy Garoppolo, who was injured in their previous game against the Green Bay Packers.
Despite that, Las Vegas seemingly still had a major edge at the position. The Bears were also without their starter, Justin Fields, as he was injured in Week 6 as well. That meant Chicago turned to undrafted rookie Tyson Bagent out of Division II Shepard University.
Bagent certainly didn’t look like the player making his first career start coming out of a D2 school, as he completed 21-of-29 passes for 162 yards and one touchdown, adding three rushes for 24 yards. He soundly outplayed Brian Hoyer, who completed 17-of-32 passes for 129 yards and two interceptions.
The decision to start Hoyer was a head-scratching one. When Garoppolo missed a game earlier in the season, Week 3 against the Los Angeles Chargers, it was rookie Aidan O’Connell who stepped into the starting lineup.
O’Connell eventually took the field against the Bears, completing 10-of-13 passes for 75 yards with one touchdown and one interception. People wondered why he wouldn’t get the start again and in a recent press conference by head coach Josh McDaniels, we learned why.
It turns out the Raiders don’t seem to feel too highly about O’Connell at this time. McDaniels started his response, saying, “This isn’t the preseason anymore,” when asked about why the fourth-round rookie didn’t start.
That is a brutal response for a head coach to provide, as it can easily be taken that the team has no confidence in O’Connell to help them win games. That is certainly telling as Hoyer hasn’t won a start in the NFL since 2016 when he was with the Bears.
That is reason enough for O’Connell to get a start over Hoyer, as the Raiders were at least competitive with a chance to win when he led the offense against the Chargers. Hoyer had the same number of scoring drives, two, as turnovers against a Bears team that was 1-5 entering the contest.
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