Oakland Raiders: Is win vs. Bears proof of legitimacy?
The Oakland Raiders went to London and pulled out a win against the stout Bears defense but is it enough to prove Jon Gruden’s team is legitimate?
A London locker room at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was the setting of Jon Gruden’s latest foray into dance. His Oakland Raiders went across the Atlantic and scored a huge win over the Chicago Bears — the very team they traded Khalil Mack to — in Week 5. In doing so, the Raiders moved to an unexpected and admittedly impressive 3-2 mark on the season.
How the Raiders came about their victory was remarkably impressive. The Oakland offensive line was able to almost completely neutralize Mack and the Chicago pass rush, allowing Derek Carr to remain un-sacked on the day. On top of that, rookie running back Josh Jacobs had a monster 123-yard, two-touchdown day, including the game-winning score, on one of the best run defenses in the NFL.
If that weren’t enough, an ailing Raiders defense that most recently lost its best healthy linebacker, Vontaze Burfict, to a season-long suspension held up strong. Though they were facing the Bears backup quarterback in Chase Daniel, Oakland forced two interceptions in Week 5 while limiting Chicago to under 250 yards of total offense.
It was a performance worthy of dancing over in the locker room. Now at 3-2 on the 2019 season, though, the question that has to be asked is if the Oakland Raiders are a legitimate playoff threat in the AFC.
The Raiders have been a team with wild swings early on in their schedule. They were strong in the season-opening win over Denver but then were barely competitive against the Chiefs and Vikings, losing by at least 18 points in each game. They bounced back for a road win in Indianapolis and then the latest triumph over Chicago.
What’s telling about Oakland in their five games, though, is the margin of both victory and defeat. In the two losses, the Raiders have been outscored by an average of 19 points per game. Yet all three victories have come by single digits, an average margin of six points.
Under Gruden, this team has an old-school mentality. They want to pound the rock with Jacobs, play strong defense and grind games out. Whenever they get behind against a team like Kansas City or Minnesota, though, they don’t have a chance to keep up. The Raiders simply don’t have an extra gear to keep up in a sprint — they’re marathon runners whose success is predicated upon endurance and keeping the pace.
Is that a formula that Oakland can ride to the postseason? Even after five weeks, that remains to be seen. Having said that, they are built to do exactly what they intend to in order to win. Asserting their will against a defensive-minded team like the Bears is evidence of that.
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What will be the real proof of legitimacy for the Raiders, though, is if they can exact their plan against high-powered offenses. Every win they have to this point has been against teams lacking such an offense. Until then, it’s safe to put Gruden’s group in a category of being provisionally legitimate. They’re better than expected but it’s uncertain if they’re going to be able to compete with the elite offenses in the league.