After watching tape of Sunday's 30-12 win over the Raiders, coach Matt Eberflus on Monday lauded the Bears for playing "really nice complementary football."
A perfect example of that occurred in the second quarter when Tremaine Edmunds intercepted a Brian Hoyer pass at the Raiders' 34, and the Bears offense converted the takeaway into D'Onta Foreman's 3-yard touchdown run to take a 14-0 lead.
The Bears won the turnover battle 3-0 and excelled in key areas on both sides of the ball. They rushed for 173 yards on 38 carries while limiting the Las Vegas ground game to 39 yards on 14 attempts. They also converted a season-high 61.5% of their third-down opportunities (8 of 13) while holding the Raiders to 22.2% (2 of 9).
Eberflus was impressed with how quickly undrafted rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent, who was making his first NFL start, unloaded the ball.
"It must be those 7,000 passes he's thrown in his life," Eberflus said, referring to Bagent starting for three years in high school and five in college. "I think that he's got a good knack for that. He really does. He understands the play design. He understands where it's supposed to go, and he gets rid of it in a timely fashion.
"Even when it was off schedule, in terms of the pressure, he was able because he's athletic enough to be able to evade. He had that nice [10-yard] scramble on the first touchdown [drive]. He's able to do those things, and that's his skillset and he did a nice job with it."
Eberflus also praised a reshuffled offensive line that was comprised of left tackle Larry Borom, left guard Cody Whitehair, center Lucas Patrick, right guard Teven Jenkins and right tackle Darnell Wright. It was the Bears' sixth different line combination in seven games this season.
Bagent was sacked only once—by Raiders star defensive end Maxx Crosby, who otherwise was prevented from making impact plays.
"I thought the O-line did a really good job of protecting," Eberflus said. "We had a plan for obviously their really good pass rusher, and I thought we executed that plan. Credit to the tight ends, the offensive line, being able to do a solid job on that good pass rusher, for sure, and the coaches as well."
Check out the best images—taken by Bears photographers—from Sunday's 30-12 victory over the Raiders at Soldier Field.
Like Bagent, Foreman received a game ball after rushing for 89 yards on 16 carries and scoring all three of the offense's touchdowns on runs of 2 and 3 yards and a 5-yard reception.
"Foreman, I thought, really did a nice job," Eberflus said. "I thought [running backs] coach [David] Walker did a really good job preparing him and the running backs all week in their protections and in the run game."
The defense, meanwhile, delivered its third straight impressive outing. The effort was led by cornerback Jaylon Johnson, who also earned a game ball after registering two interceptions in a 1:04 span late in the game, including one that he returned 39 yards for his first career touchdown.
"He's done everything we've asked," Eberflus said. "He's been really good in training camp. He's worked every single day during that process. He's worked his craft. He's done a really good job of improving his craft.
"He's always been really good in terms of being sticky at the top of routes and being able to close distances and make plays on the ball. Now he's starting to make those interceptions, which is positive. Getting takeaways is a big thing … and the tackling is better. There are no house guests on our defense, so everybody tackles. We'll be a good team when our corners tackle, and he's done a good job of that."
