Bears vs. Raiders: 8 Chicago Players Who Need to Step Up Most

Sunday, when the Bears invade Oakland, it will be a whole new ballgame.  Bears Nation will be watching with breath held and knuckles white as Caleb Hanie makes his first NFL start.  

But the entire game does not rest just on Hanie's shoulders—even if he has a Cutler-esque game, the Bears could falter without several other players stepping up their game.

Oakland is a far better team than they have been in recent past, and the Bears must bring their A-game to win. 

Oakland has earned its 6-4 record on the back of its running assault, led by Darren McFadden and Michael Bush.  McFadden has been out since Week 7, but could make his return this week—even without him, Michael Bush as been tearing it up in recent weeks, recording 461 rushing yards on 96 carries and 150 receiving yards on nine receptions in the past four weeks.

Making matters worse is that the Raiders' pass protection unit is third in the league in sacks allowed.

On the other side of the ball, their defense is a pass-rushing nightmare.  The team's 28 sacks are sixth in the league and only three off the pace of the league-leading Vikings.

This is not a make-or-break game for the Bears in terms of wild-card positioning.  But in terms of momentum and confidence for a team making a late-season quarterback change mid-charge to the playoffs, this is a very important game.

And so today, we look at eight players who must step up for the Bears to win in Oakland.

Caleb Hanie

We're going to get the most obvious slide out of the way first.

I've made no bones this past week about being a supporter of Caleb's.  I believe the Bears will be fine moving forward with Hanie at the helm, and there are a few reasons for this.

First, Hanie has the advantage of sitting back and learning for his first two-plus seasons behind a veteran quarterback who is an unquestionable starter.  Quarterbacks who have time to learn and develop behind secure starters tend to mature and develop in ways that young quarterbacks under the pressure of starting early don't get the opportunity to enjoy.  

This doesn't ensure automatic success, but it tends to lead to fewer mistakes when finally called upon, and better decision-making.

Just as important is the lack of game film that defensive coordinators have on Hanie.  You see it frequently around the league, where a young quarterback who hasn't started before or who hasn't started often does very well for the first six to eight games when he finally gets on the field.  Think Rex Grossman in 2006.  Once teams get enough film to learn and understand the young QB's tendencies, the defenses start to close in on the gunslinger.  

Right now, there is very, very little true game film on Hanie.  Last year's NFC Championship game is really the only film available that doesn't involve Hanie handing the ball off in mop-up duty.

Finally, Hanie gave us reason to believe that he has the poise and confidence to come out and actually play the game.  In the aforementioned championship game, Hanie was thrust into the worst possible situation for a young quarterback.  

He entered the game as the third option in a close and important game, with getting the whole team's dreams dropped squarely on his shoulders.  In the end, he fell short, but he never looked uncomfortable or out of place, nor out of control.  He performed admirably given the circumstances.

All that being said, Hanie still has to perform for this to work out.

He comes in to make his first start against a defense that gives mixed signals.  The Raiders' passing defense enter the game 22nd in the league in yards allowed, 24th in passing touchdowns allowed, 17th in interception percentage and 23rd in yards per completion allowed.  But they also are ranked second in completion percentage allowed, fifth in yards per attempt allowed and sixth in quarterback rating allowed and sacks.

Hanie doesn't have to be Jay Cutler to be successful.  That's a mistake many backups make in this situation: believing they have to perform to the level of their injured starter.  He just has to limit mistakes and move the ball enough in the air to ensure that defenses can't stack the box against Matt Forte and the Bears' rushing assault.

The Interior Offensive Line

Roberto Garza (63), Chris Spencer (67) and Edwin Williams (70) will have their work cut out for them this week.  They face a defensive line that gets the majority of its pressure from the defensive tackles rather than from the ends.

Of the 28 total sacks the Raiders have earned this season, 13.5 of them have come from defensive tackles Richard Seymour, Tommy Kelly and Desmond Bryant.  That's in addition to the 14 quarterback hits and 28 hurries they've accounted for.

The interior of the line has actually been very solid.  The interior line has given up just two sacks, five hits and 40 hurries all season, but some of that is due to Jay Cutler's ability to roll out of the pocket when danger presents itself, and that is supported by the 40 hurries allowed by the interior group.

Hanie will not have that same ability, though he isn't the statue that Todd Collins was.  But the line will have to give the young quarterback all the help they can if he is to start off on the right track.  And the interior line will have to shoulder the bulk of the pressure.

Julius Peppers and Israel Idonije

There's no way around saying this.  The Bears pass-rush is broken, and Israel Idonije is a big reason why that is the case.

Henry Melton, Amobi Okoye and the rest of the DTs are doing a decent job of getting pressure up the middle.  And Peppers is an absolute monster who is drawing attention constantly.  But Idonije just isn't able to take advantage and it's hurting the Bears.

Of course, Izzy isn't the only problem, just the biggest one.  And it is correctable.  But Idonije must do just that to help get the Bears pass-rush back on track.  

On a more limited scale, Idonije and Peppers must step up their game against the Raiders.

The Raiders are a team that has allowed just 15 sacks all season and have done a fantastic job of protecting their quarterbacks.  But the tackles are vulnerable and other than Jared Veldheer having a good game against Jared Allen, both have been pretty shaky over the past three weeks.  The opportunities will present themselves Sunday for both defensive ends to get into the backfield, and Palmer's limited mobility will help even more.

But it's not just the passing game where the Bears defensive ends must make an impact.  

The Raiders' rushing attack is solid, to say the least.  Darren McFadden's return for Sunday is questionable at this point.  But Michael Bush is more than capable of making the Bears pay for failure to execute in run defense.

Usually in this case, I would highlight the defensive tackles—but the Raiders don't run much from guard to guard.  In just the past two weeks, Michael Bush has run 31 times from the tackles out, and that has resulted in 204 yards, 111 of which came after initial contact.

Chicago can not allow that to happen, which means that Peppers and Idonije must turn Bush in towards the linebackers and make tackles when they get the opportunity.

In all aspects of their game, the Bears need Peppers and Idonije to step up to the plate and make the plays.

Roy Williams

With Hanie making his first stat, he's going to need to build confidence quickly.  What he doesn't need is for his biggest wideout to come up short on three of his first four targets, as Roy Williams did last week.  While only one of the incompletions was a recordable drop, Williams has to make those plays. 

Williams turned it around and had a great game that included five receptions for first downs.  But Hanie and the Bears will need Roy to be even better against a Raiders secondary that allows the second lowest catch percentage in the league.

Earl Bennett will provide Hanie with a reliable target, but Hanie will need more than one set of great hands on the field.  Williams, being the biggest wide-receiver target and the most veteran receiver, must step up into the leadership role and provide a steady and reliable target.

Lost in all of the drama around Williams is that he is perhaps the best receiver on the team in routes and gets separation more frequently than any receiver on the team.  But all of that means little if he lets the pass hit the dirt.

Matt Forte

Two weeks ago, the talk about Matt Forte was that he was leading the league in all purpose yards and making a run at the NFL record for that statistic.  Two weeks later, he seems to have fallen off that pace and, frankly, has not looked nearly as dominant.

We could spend the majority of this slide speculating on why.  Forte has a history of hiding injury from the public, and one has to wonder if this is the case now.  The line hasn't made the same holes.  The idea that he could be injured without that big contract extension could be weighing on him.

For whatever reason, Forte hasn't looked the same.  Why that is, doesn't make a lick of difference.  But two weeks does not make for a season, just a slump.  And Forte can escape that slump this week.

I've read elsewhere this week where some are giving the advantage in this matchup to Oakland's run defense.  I passionately disagree, and not just because I write for the Bears.

Reality is on Forte's side.  The Raiders are 25th in the league in rushing yards allowed and tied for last in the league in yards per carry allowed, giving up 5.2 yard per carry.  They are also 23rd in the league in rushing touchdowns allowed.

Oakland has also allowed the fourth most receiving yards in the league to running backs.  That could turn out to be a key factor in this week's matchup, as Forte is one of the best receivers out of the backfield in the league.

The Bears need for Forte to return to form this week, especially with Hanie taking over for Cutler.  The Bears must have Forte shoulder the load for this offense the way he was earlier in the season.  

If Forte performs well, Hanie will be under far less pressure and will have a much better chance of performing well and gaining the confidence he needs to guide the Bears until Cutler can return.

And now it's your turn, ladies and gentlemen.  Step up to the soapbox below and let your voice be heard.