Chicago Bears: 5 biggest takeaways from the Week 7 win vs. the Raiders

The Chicago Bears found their recipe for success on Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders

4. D’Onta Foreman sets the tone

When the Chicago Bears signed D’Onta Foreman, many lauded it as a sneakily good signing by Ryan Poles.

Despite having a statistically similar season to ex-Bear David Montgomery last year, Foreman was signed to a much cheaper deal and was pegged to be a large part of the Bears backfield.

That isn’t how things have played out through seven weeks of the NFL season. While the drafting of Roschon Johnson certainly played a role, it was still a shock when Foreman began to be a healthy scratch for the Chicago Bears.

Credit to D’Onta, who took all of this in stride while biding his time for an opportunity. Opportunity knocked at Foreman’s door and responded by kicking it down and hurdling right over it.

From the get-go, D’Onta Foreman ran angry and with purpose. He gobbled up yards at will, moved the chains, and set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.

While Foreman deserves praise, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the contributions of the offensive line. While they had struggles in the passing game, they were dominant in the running game.

Time and time again, the Bears offense was ahead of the sticks on second and third down, making life easy on their rookie quarterback. Luke Getsy seemed to get his head out of the clouds, calling a consistent and smart game.

Foreman was rewarded for his effort with two rushing touchdowns as well as a receiving touchdown on a checkdown from Tyson Bagent. It was a banner day for the NFL veteran.

5. Is Matt Eberflus’ seat getting colder?

Chicago Bears fans have made their opinions clear all season long, but one opinion that seemed to unite many was the inevitable firing of Matt Eberflus. Many wanted, and still want, him to go.

I know from experience.

I was completely unconvinced that Matt Eberflus brought any value to this Chicago Bears team. Preaching fundamentals and accountability sounds great during press conferences, but what happens on Sunday matters the most to me.

While I don’t believe his seat is quite cool yet, Eberflus has shown me something over the last few weeks that I wasn’t seeing prior: Progress.

The most apparent change has been the play calling. With the departure of Alan Williams, Eberflus took over calling plays and ditched the unsuccessful ultra-conservative approach of his predecessor.

Blitzing doesn’t solve all problems, but if your front four can’t cause pressure, it becomes a necessity. Credit to Eberflus for realizing this shortcoming and changing it up, as the results have spoken for themselves.

The performances themselves have also improved. Whether it be Jaylon Johnson, Tremaine Edmunds, Justin Jones, Gervon Dexter, Tyrique Stevenson, or any other young player on defense, fans are starting to see an uptick in production.

Matt Eberflus has a long way to go before he’s reserved a place in the heart of many Windy City faithful, but if he can keep extracting solid performances from his players as he did on Sunday, he may yet have a chance to do so.