After the latest humiliating setback, Raiders coach Josh McDaniels still has no answers.
CHICAGO (AP) — It must be exhausting to be asked the same questions over and again when you don’t know the answer.
There are two of them for Las Vegas Raiders coach Josh McDaniels.
Why can’t you score with Davante Adams and Josh Jacobs on your team?
Why does your team appear unprepared in humiliating defeats?
CHICAGO — It has to be frustrating being asked the same questions over and over again when you don’t know the answer.
For Las Vegas Raiders coach Josh McDaniels, there are two of them.
Why can’t you score points when you have Davante Adams and Josh Jacobs on your team?
Why does your team look unprepared in embarrassing losses?
The second one doesn’t come up as much, but it’s been an issue often enough and came up again Sunday after a 30-12 loss to a Chicago Bears team many left for dead.
The Raiders scored three points over the first 47 minutes of the game, and their plucky defense lacked its usual juice in falling to 3-4.
McDaniels wasn’t a fan of the theory that his team wasn’t prepared.
“No, we had a chance to go down there and take the lead,” McDaniels said, pointing to the start of the game in which the Raiders forced a three-and-out and then drove down the field before Daniel Carlson missed a 41-yard field goal.
“I didn’t think it was that we weren’t ready to play,” McDaniels continued. “The guys had energy and juice. We lost control of the line of scrimmage, and then we’re playing the game backwards, and that is not a formula that has suited us.
“We need to figure that out, how we can do that better.”
Last season, McDaniels lost to the Indianapolis Colts in what would be former center Jeff Saturday’s only win in eight games as an interim coach. The Raiders also lost to a really bad Los Angeles Rams team that plugged in Baker Mayfield three days after grabbing him off the street.
On Sunday, the Raiders took on Bears rookie Tyson Bagent, whose last start came in the Division II semifinals last season against Colorado School of Mines. He went 19-for-34 for 165 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions and was sacked eight times in a 44-13 loss that day.
But the Orediggers of Golden, Colo., tackled better than the Raiders did Sunday.
Bagent didn’t break a nervous sweat, leading three touchdown drives without turning the ball over and running for three first downs. The Bears never trailed and the game was not as close as the final score indicates.
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“We got punched in the mouth,” safety Marcus Epps said. “I’m disappointed but we just have to get back to it. We have a lot of football left.”
Safety Tre’von Moehrig, who had played well this season, politely declined an interview request.
Cornerback Marcus Peters especially struggled on Sunday. He got trampled on a 5-yard touchdown catch by D’Onta Foreman that made it 21-3 late in the third quarter. But at least he tried on that one. There was a third-and-1 play earlier that drive where Peters short-armed a tackle attempt and wound up giving Tyler Scott a pat on the arm before he ran for 6 yards and a first down.
The Raiders’ bad tackling might be on general manager Dave Ziegler’s moves the last two years more than the defensive coaches, and it has been bugging McDaniels for a while.
