Chicago Bears vs. Las Vegas Raiders: 5 storylines to watch in Week 7

LAKE FOREST – There’s plenty of opportunity for weirdness Sunday at Soldier Field. When the Bears take on the Las Vegas Raiders, neither team will have its starting quarterback.

Bears QB Justin Fields will miss the game because of a dislocated thumb. Raiders starter Jimmy Garoppolo will miss the contest with a back injury, which required a brief hospital stay last weekend.

Instead, the Bears will feature undrafted rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent. The Raiders will start either 38-year-old veteran Brian Hoyer or rookie fourth-round draft pick Aidan O’Connell. Head coach Josh McDaniels has not announced a starter.

The Bears and Raiders will kick off at noon from Soldier Field. The game will be broadcast on Fox. Here are five storylines to watch.

1. All eyes on Tyson Bagent

The Bears will start an undrafted rookie quarterback coming out of Division II Shepherd University. That is a pretty wild fact. Bagent already has beaten all the odds to be here, preparing to make his first career NFL start.

Bagent played nearly the entire second half of last week’s game against the Minnesota Vikings after Fields left with a thumb injury. He turned the ball over twice but kept the Bears in the game and had a chance to lead a game-winning drive. Now he has a full week of preparation under his belt. He took all the reps with the first-team offense this week.

The Bears are fully behind Bagent, who impressed during the preseason and who the Bears elected to keep on the roster ahead of veteran backup PJ Walker in August. Bagent is a confident quarterback who set all kinds of records at Shepherd. But starting a game at Ram Stadium in West Virginia is different from starting a game at Soldier Field.

“To look where I’m at and to look how everything has kind of fallen into place, [I have] just nothing but extreme gratitude, and [I’m] just feeling super blessed to be that motivational role [model] to the younger people in my family, be that person they can look up to and just really motivation for everybody that may be at a smaller level,” Bagent said.

2. Brian Hoyer or Aidan O’Connell?

McDaniels has not announced a starter at the quarterback position. Hoyer has started 40 games over the course of his 15-year NFL career. He was the backup last week when Garoppolo left the game with a back injury. O’Connell, however, started in Week 4 when Garoppolo sat out. He kept the Raiders close in a one-possession loss to the Chargers.

The Raiders are likely going to keep this a mystery until Sunday morning, but national reports have indicated that Hoyer will get the start.

“Just studying both quarterbacks, studying their tendencies, whether they like to go downfield or like to throw the ball short,” Bears safety Jaquan Brisker said. “We know they’re probably going to start off by trying to get the ball out, trying to get rhythm throws and things like that.”

Just studying both quarterbacks, studying their tendencies, whether they like to go downfield, or like to throw the ball short. We know they’re probably going to start off by trying to get the ball out, trying to get rhythm throws and things like that.”

—  Jaquan Brisker, Bears safety

If the Raiders were to start O’Connell, Sunday’s game will mark the first NFL game in which two rookie starting quarterbacks who were taken in the fourth round or later will start for both teams since 2004.

O’Connell also is a Chicago-area native. He played high school football at Stevenson before quarterbacking at Purdue.

3. What state is the Bears’ offensive line in?

Bears right guard Nate Davis (ankle) will not play Sunday. Last week, the Bears essentially benched Cody Whitehair for his errant snaps from the center position. Right tackle Darnell Wright enters this week’s game listed as questionable with a shoulder injury, although Bears head coach Matt Eberflus is optimistic he’ll play.

“We’ll assess that as the weekend goes here, but it looked like he was in a good spot,” Eberflus said.

The Bears already were without left tackle Braxton Jones, who is on injured reserve with a neck injury. With Davis out, Whitehair likely will move to guard. It’s unclear who would play right tackle if Wright is unable to play. Aviante Collins is listed as the backup on the depth chart. Guards Ja’Tyre Carter and Teven Jenkins also could be options at tackle.

If Wright plays, of course, that won’t be an issue. But the offensive line struggled with its assignments and communication at times last week against Minnesota. The O-line could use a bounce-back game this week, especially with a rookie QB.

“We’ve got a great group of offensive linemen, guys who work hard, guys that give it their all every day,” Whitehair said. “We’ve just got to keep moving forward and try and get a win here.”

4. The Davante Adams drama

The Raiders shook up the NFL landscape when they traded for former Packers star receiver Davante Adams and signed him to a huge contract extension ahead of last season. Now, a year and six weeks into his Raiders tenure, Adams’ future in Las Vegas could be in doubt.

Adams expressed his frustration about the way the team used him last week against the Patriots. He essentially said he wanted to see the football more. He had only two catches for 29 yards.

With the Oct. 31 trade deadline looming, speculation is building that the Raiders could look to move Adams if things don’t improve. At the same time, the Raiders are 3-3 and still remain in the playoff picture.

Regardless of how it plays out, Adams will present a challenge for the Bears’ defense.

“Everybody’s trying to find a way to slow this guy down,” Bears safeties coach Andre Curtis said. “He’s been a really, really good, impactful player for a while. You definitely have to have an awareness, a heightened awareness of where he is. When he breaks the huddle, everybody’s got to know where he is.”

Adams had plenty of success against the Bears when he was with the Packers.

5. Can the run game get going?

With a rookie quarterback making his first start, it would make sense if the Bears wanted to control this game with their rushing attack. The aforementioned injuries on the offensive line could make that hard, but this is a team that has found some mojo rushing the football of late.

They remain without Khalil Herbert, who is on injured reserve with an ankle injury. Rookie running back Roschon Johnson also remains in concussion protocol and is at risk of missing his second consecutive game.

Instead, running backs D’Onta Foreman and Darrynton Evans are likely to carry the load. They were the two featured backs last week. Foreman led the way with 65 rushing yards on 15 carries. He had some notable success running the ball in the second half.

Foreman had a 900-yard rushing season last year with the Carolina Panthers. He signed with the Bears in March, expecting to compete for the starting job. He’s more than capable of leading a high-powered rushing attack.

The Raiders are allowing 121.7 rushing yards per game (ranked 21st among 32 teams).