CHICAGO — Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Brian Hoyer couldn’t have made it more obvious where he was going with the ball. After taking the snap, he immediately looked left toward receiver Davante Adams. His gaze never shifted as he stepped up in the pocket, patted the ball with his off hand and flung it … straight to Chicago Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson, who returned the interception 39 yards for a touchdown.
JAYLON JOHNSON PICK 6! @ChicagoBears got 3️⃣0️⃣ on the board!
📺: #LVvsCHI on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/iTs8HMaXlh pic.twitter.com/jU27pr9BvN— NFL (@NFL) October 22, 2023
The Raiders’ fate had already been sealed — they trailed by 18 points with under six minutes left in the game before Hoyer’s pick six — but the play encapsulated what plagued them most in a miserable 30-12 loss to the Bears on Sunday. Hoyer was awful, the offense was terrible and the Raiders were embarrassed as they fell to 3-4.
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The book had already been written on Hoyer. Over the course of his 15-year career, the 38-year-old quarterback has repeatedly shown himself to be a reliable backup who should not be starting games. Hoyer last won a game as a starter in 2016, when he was with the Bears. Since then, he’d gone 0-12. He just isn’t good enough to be depended on in high-leverage moments. Few people should know that better than Raiders coach Josh McDaniels, who was Hoyer’s offensive coordinator with the New England Patriots for five seasons.
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Yet, with starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo out due to injury, McDaniels picked Hoyer to start in a game the Raiders really had to win. They were going on the road without Garoppolo, but they were facing a one-win Bears team minus starting quarterback Justin Fields that entered Week 7 ranked 28th in the NFL in point differential. Instead of taking advantage of a favorable matchup, the Raiders were thoroughly handled.
Hoyer completed just 17 of 32 passes for 129 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions. He was often unwilling to go past his first read, badly missed several throws and constantly put the ball in harm’s way.
It would’ve been one thing if McDaniels had no choice but to start Hoyer, but that wasn’t the case. Rookie Aidan O’Connell was available, and the Raiders didn’t bring him in until there was 5:33 left and the game was well out of reach.
Not starting O’Connell — or at least turning to him at some point while the game was still in the balance — was a mistake that falls squarely on McDaniels’ shoulders.
“I just made the decision to go with the veteran and try to go out there and play a solid game,” McDaniels said. “I’m not going to second-guess that.”
O’Connell had shown enough to earn an opportunity. The 25-year-old from Purdue played well in the preseason and started Week 4 against the Los Angeles Chargers. There was plenty of bad — he turned the ball over three times and took seven sacks — but he also showed flashes of good and gave the Raiders a chance to win in a one-score loss.
There’s no guarantee O’Connell would’ve played better against the Bears than Hoyer, but at least there was theoretical upside in giving him another shot. He needs experience to get better, and the Raiders passed on that opportunity.
“Yeah, but this isn’t the preseason anymore,” McDaniels said when asked if he considered seeing what he has in O’Connell. “When your starter is not available, you’re trying to make what you think is the best decision for the team.”
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The Raiders clearly thought they were good enough to beat the Bears with a conservative approach at quarterback, but that proved to be a miscalculation. The Raiders aren’t the type of team that can afford to play it safe. In doing so, they not only lost the game but essentially robbed themselves of the chance to further the development of a young player at a premium position.
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In the Raiders’ first possession Sunday, they made an effort to get Adams the ball after his comments last week expressing his frustration about his usage in the offense. Hoyer’s first three passes went to Adams, and the Raiders drove to the Bears’ 23-yard line. Hoyer’s fourth attempt on third-and-3 also went to Adams, but Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson broke up the pass.
Following a rare miss by kicker Daniel Carlson, Hoyer threw Adams the ball three more times on the next drive, and the Raiders again moved into Bears territory. That drive also stalled out, though, when Hoyer and receiver Jakobi Meyers had a miscommunication on third-and-6.
Adams had five catches for 48 yards in the first quarter, but the Raiders were scoreless, and it was apparent Hoyer was too locked in on his first read. That didn’t change in the second quarter, though his target did. Meyers was peppered with six targets while Adams received zero. The Raiders got just a field goal.
“We’ve just got to mix it up a little better,” Adams, who finished with seven catches for 57 yards, said. “I just think it’s about keeping the defense honest and making it a little easier on the quarterback. We’ve got to do it as wideouts, we’ve got to get the run game going and all these things that we’ve been struggling with all year. It’s making it tough on the quarterback.”
By halftime, it was clear that Hoyer’s strategy wasn’t getting it done. He had completed just 10 of 19 passes for 89 yards and thrown an interception that led to a Bears touchdown. The offense had managed just three points, and the team trailed by 11.
Instead of making the switch to O’Connell at halftime, the Raiders stuck with Hoyer. Hindsight is 20/20, but it’s hard to identify a good reason why.
Longest losing streak by starting QB over last 10 years
2017 Deshone Kizer 15
2016-23 Brian Hoyer 13*
2022-23 Justin Fields 12*active pic.twitter.com/mDroUj09bw
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) October 22, 2023
“I don’t think everything was all the quarterback’s fault,” McDaniels said when asked if he considered making a change at halftime. “So, not really.”
Ironically, the Raiders’ best drive of the game came under O’Connell in garbage time. After throwing an interception on his first series, he led an eight-play, 60-yard drive to score a meaningless touchdown with 1:14 remaining. He finished 10-of-13 for 75 yards, one touchdown and the interception.
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Still, quarterback play was far from the only reason the Raiders lost. They couldn’t run the ball. They turned the ball over three times. The defense couldn’t tackle. The pass rush was ineffective. McDaniels’ play calling was predictable, and he was strangely timid with his decision-making.
“We didn’t do anything well enough to deserve to win,” McDaniels said.
The Raiders offense has yet to score 20 points in a game this season, so the struggles aren’t new. Like the Raiders have all year, they struggled to move the ball, extend drives and finish with touchdowns once they made it into the red zone. No matter the quarterback, that has been the case.
So what’s the solution?
“I don’t have one,” Adams said. “Honestly, I have no idea. We’ve just got to be better all around.”
Garoppolo is expected to return against the Lions on “Monday Night Football” in Detroit next week, but he has struggled even when healthy this season. Though the Raiders would get back to .500 with a win, that feels unlikely coming off a performance like this.
Meyers was asked how the Raiders bounce back from here.
“That’s a good question,” he said. “We’re about to find out.”
(Photo: Quinn Harris / Getty Images)
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