Why Raiders' Loss to Bears Falls Squarely on Geno Smith's Shoulders

The Las Vegas Raiders thought they solved their quarterback issues when they added quarterback Geno Smith via trade during the offseason. After Sunday's loss to the Chicago Bears, questions around Smith have begun.

Geno Smith Must Figure It Out

In the Raiders' previous losses this season, there was plenty of blame to go around. While the Raiders have room for improvement overall, Sunday's loss to the Bears is on Smith's hands.

Smith currently leads the National Football League in interceptions through four games, with seven. Six of those have come in the Raiders' two home games. Smith threw three interceptions against the Bears, singlehandedly setting the Raiders back.

Following the loss, Smith acknowledged his play is not up to par.

"Number one, take care of the ball and not throw interceptions. That's the simplest way I can put it. First of all, I owe it to my teammates to go out there and play better. I felt like we had a great week of practice, I felt like the process was there,” Smith said. 

“I felt like I was feeling good about what I was seeing, the game-plan was great, guys fought their tails off. The guys deserved to get this win, and I let those guys down. There's a lot of things I'm going to have to fix within myself, and that's the reality. I'm not going to sugar coat it, I got to be a lot better, and I am a lot better, but it hasn't showed up. The guy that I'm supposed to be hasn't showed up yet. I'll take pride in fixing this stuff."  

As has been the case far too many times over the past two seasons, the Raiders' subpar play from the quarterback position was their undoing. Sunday's loss was a reminder that despite the changes, the Raiders are still very much a work in progress early in the season.

Smith explained his feelings following the Raiders' one-point loss on Sunday. Las Vegas played the best they have in weeks, showing tangible progress in several areas that have been problematic recently. In many regards, the Raiders did what they needed to do to beat the Bears.

"More so, just anger, I know I got to be better. For me, as a player, I pride myself on my process, in the way that I go about things, and there's some things that I got to do better. I mean, it's flat out in terms of my play on the field. Like I said, we had a great week of practice, preparation was there, guys were dialed in,” Smith said. 

"You saw how Ashton [Jeanty] ran the ball today. You saw how the line played today. You saw how our guys were getting open, and how our defense played. How our crowd was electric throughout the game. If you look at the difference in the game it was the turnovers. Simply put, I got to be better."