Originally Posted by
suicidekings
Defensively, the Raiders have a really hard time with stopping the run. That's how KC and Denver beat them, and why Minnesota failed to beat them when Peterson went down. I would expect both of these guys to have a big day and for the Bears offense to be more run-heavy than usual without Cutler. Oakland is actually pretty good against the pass. They give up a lot of yards, but allow a very low 6.1 yards allowed per pass attempt (8th best in the league), owing to a higher than average number of pass attempts made per game against them and the tendency to either cover well or duff it and give up the big play. So being run-heavy will favour the Bears in this matchup.
Defensively, the Bears have really tightened up their run defense, however in their last 5 games they only really faced two legit running backs in Peterson and McCoy. Both had poor nights. Bush shouldn't really have that much success against the Bears D-Line. Elite QBs can give Chicago some trouble. Palmer (while not elite) is WAY better than people give him credit for, and has an array of young, very fast receivers to throw to. Palmer and the Raiders can do everything they need to do to beat the Bears, but if Chicago shows up with the same defensive intensity that we've seen in recent weeks, Oakland is going to have a hard time moving the ball.
I lean to Chicago, but I'm not willing to make a play on them in their first game without Cutler.