Approximately four weeks ago, the Oakland Raiders lost their quarterback Jason Campbell(notes) to a broken collarbone for the rest of the year. Now the Raiders will face a team who has just lost their quarterback; possibly for the rest of the season as well. Jay Cutler(notes) of the Chicago Bears broke the thumb on his throwing hand against the San Diego Chargers on November 20. Although things are looking down, the Bears are confident that Cutler will return this season. However, that won’t matter much in the November 26 matchup between the Raiders and Bears in Oakland, CA.

The Raiders replaced Campbell with proven veteran Carson Palmer(notes) four weeks ago, while the Bears will turn to their backup quarterback Caleb Hanie(notes). Hanie made an appearance last year in the NFC Championship game and nearly brought the Bears back for a win over the Green Bay Packers – who went on to win the Super Bowl. On November 26, Hanie will make his first start of the 2011 season in place of Cutler, and to be honest, I don’t think the Bears will miss Cutler all that much.

The Raiders will look to disrupt Hanie, much the same way the Kansas City Chiefs disrupted both Kyle Boller(notes) and Carson Palmer in their first game after Campbell’s injury. Let’s look at how these two teams matchup:

Offense

As far as the Bears’ offensive strengths go, there are two key components to that equation; ‘Matt’ and ‘Forte’. Matt Forte(notes) is the most versatile and complete running back in the NFL right now. And when I say complete, I mean he can run the ball and catch the ball and be equally as explosive. The Raiders have an explosive back of their own; Michael Bush(notes). Bush is playing in place of injured running back Darren McFadden(notes) who will miss yet another game with a strained foot. Bush has been having huge games as of late but it’s the veteran quarterback that gets his team the edge here.

Edge: Raiders

Defense

The main difference between these two teams on defense is pretty simple. The Bears give up just over 100-yards rushing per game, while the Raiders give up just over 130 yards. Both running backs will look to have a big game, but I think the Bears will stop Michael Bush before the Raiders stop Matt Forte.

Edge: Bears

Special Teams

Any other week, I would say the Raiders’ kicking squad of Sebastian Jankiowski and Shane Lechler(notes) give them the edge automatically. However, everyone knows the Bears’ return team features a human highlight reel in the form of Devin Hester(notes). To avoid the wrath that is Hester – who is averaging 21.2 yards per punt return – Lechler will just have to kick it away from him. I just hope Shane Lechler isn’t too proud to kick it out of the reach of Hester. As for Janikowski, he can kick touchbacks all day, probably even from the opposite end zone if he had to. If the Raiders can keep the ball out of Hester’s hands, they hold the advantage; otherwise, I give it to the Bears.

Edge: ????

Prediction: Bears 31- Raiders 24

David is co-founder of wrapupp sports blog where they post fresh content daily and present sports blogs and sports opinions – all with a West Coast bias. Growing up in the Bay Area, David is a huge supporter of all the local sports teams; the Giants, Athletics, Warriors, Sharks, 49ers, and Raiders. His one fault, admittedly, as many of his friends and family would say, is his love for the Los Angeles Lakers. Growing up, Magic Johnson was his favorite basketball player and he fell in love with the team. He chalks it up to, “Not knowing any better”. Now his love for sports has turned just as academic as it is intuitive and he follows most all sports all over the nation.

You can follow David on Twitter: @officialwrapupp .

Sources:

NFL.com. Raiders vs. Bears Game Preview. NFL 2011.

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If there’s any team that knows what the Chicago Bears are going through after losing starting quarterback Jay Cutler to a broken thumb, it might be the Oakland Raiders.

It was just last month that Oakland’s promising season hit a speed bump when starter Jason Campbell broke his collarbone. The Raiders lost back-to-back games as they adjusted to new quarterback Carson Palmer before responding with wins the past two weeks as Palmer found his rhythm.

The Bears (7-3) are now in a similar predicament heading into Sunday’s game in Oakland against the Raiders (6-4), with backup Caleb Hanie set to get his first career start one week after Cutler broke his thumb trying to make a tackle on an interception return.

The emotions in Chicago are quite familiar to the Raiders. The initial shock followed by the understanding that the team must rally behind the new quarterback or otherwise the entire season would go to waste.

“The QB is the leader,” Raiders defensive tackle Tommy Kelly said. “He’s the face of the team. When you lose a good one, and everything’s going like the Bears have had, winning five in a row, it’s a shock wave. But the dude they’ve got backing up played last year in the NFC championship game. He didn’t play all year last year and he came right in and picked it up. You can’t go in thinking there’s going to be a big drop-off. You just have to take care of business.”

While Hanie’s last start was for Colorado State against Wyoming four years ago and he has not even thrown a pass all season, his performance in last season’s NFC title game against Green Bay opened eyes in Oakland, and among his own teammates.

After Cutler went down with a knee injury and Todd Collins was ineffective in two series, Hanie came into the game with the Bears trailing the Packers 14-0 late in the third quarter. He led the Bears to a touchdown on his first drive, threw an interception that was returned for a score later in the fourth quarter and then threw a TD pass to cut the deficit to 21-14.

Hanie then drove Chicago into Green Bay territory before throwing an interception in the final minute to send the Packers to the Super Bowl. He finished that game 13 for 20 for 153 yards with one TD and two interceptions on a huge stage with no preparation.

The Bears hope that makes this week’s task a little bit easier.

“That helped him a lot. This week he knew he was the guy right away. He’s able to take all the reps in practice to really get himself ready to play the best possible game he can,” coach Lovie Smith said. “He’s not a rookie around here. Caleb’s been around here for a while. Our players all know him, they have confidence in him. Outside it’s a big story, but on the inside we’re just carrying on. It’s always next guy up.”

When the Raiders lost Campbell on Oct. 16 in a win against Cleveland, the next man up was Kyle Boller. But they quickly decided they needed an upgrade and immediately traded a 2012 first-round pick and conditional 2013 second-rounder to Cincinnati for Palmer.

The risk did not pay off immediately. Boller and Palmer combined to throw six interceptions as Oakland lost its first game without Palmer to Kansas City. Palmer threw three more interceptions the following game in a loss to Denver.

But he has bounced back the past two games, going 31 for 43 for 463 yards with three touchdowns and one interception for a passer rating of 120.6 as the Raiders have won two straight to take over first place in the AFC West.

“That’s why I went and got the guy,” coach Hue Jackson said. “He’s a tremendous football player. He’s growing each and every day. The sky’s the limit. What he has to do is just keep working. It’s a testament to him. All of a sudden you’ve played four games now and your body, you go from the couch to playing, and at some point in time you’re looking for him to slow down and hit a wall, but not this guy. He keeps working and pushes right through it and on he goes.”

The Bears are putting their hopes in Hanie’s hands until Cutler returns, possibly before the end of the regular season. They reportedly made a waiver claim on Kyle Orton, who was claimed by Kansas City, and signed Josh McCown as a backup.

But if they are going to make it back to the postseason, Hanie will be the quarterback to get them there. He has plenty of help with running back Matt Forte, who leads the league with 1,391 yards from scrimmage, big-play returner Devin Hester and a defense that is tied for second in takeaways with 23.

“We lost our leader for a few weeks here so we’ve got to pick it up a little bit and everyone’s got to try and do more if that’s even possible,” linebacker Brian Urlacher said. “It’s hard to do that in the NFL and we’ve just got to try and find a way to make some more plays.”

The Oakland Raiders will battle it out with the Chicago Bears on Sunday, November 27, in front of another sold out crowd at O.co Coliseum. This game, of course, is an important one for the team to win, after the Raiders lost the last two at home against two AFC West rivals, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Denver Broncos.

The Raiders have come alive in their last two games on the road, winning against both the San Diego Chargers and the Minnesota Vikings. Their road record is 4-1, at home they are 2-3. But that record may be a bit deceiving when it comes to the team today. Especially the loss against the Chiefs. As we know, backup quarterback, Kyle Boller(notes), played the first half of the game, and when Carson Palmer(notes) came in, he’d only been in Oakland for a few days. I read an article written by a Bears’ fan this morning and one of the reasons he believes Chicago will win against Oakland, is because of their four touchdown loss to Kansas City, but he says nothing of the circumstances behind that loss.

During the last two games, we’ve really seen the team come together, and Palmer has quickly become the leader the Raiders need. It’s doubtful that we’ll see either the injured Darren McFadden(notes) or Jacoby Ford(notes) in the game, but I don’t think it’s going to matter. In the game against the Vikings, Palmer connected with seven different players, and he’ll find a way to do it again this Sunday.

Also of note, the Raiders have 19 runs of at least 20 yards this season, most in the NFL. Michael Bush(notes) will likely add a lot to those numbers against the Bears.

Once again, it’s going to be the Raiders’ defense that needs to be on fire in Oakland in order to stop the Bears, and keeping penalties down is also key. Fair or unfair, the Raiders will have to come in with confidence and power through to keep that momentum going. Things have often been unfair when it comes to officiating games involving the Silver and Black, but what matters in the end is whether they’re able to turn the battle into a win or a loss, and we really need the win this Sunday.

In the game against Minnesota, veteran cornerback Lito Sheppard(notes) had six solo tackles and a sack, and safety Matt Giordano(notes) recorded his second interception in the last two games. Against the Bears’ quarterback, Caleb Hanie(notes), we should see that again this Sunday.

It may be a tough one, but this time I believe the fans will be rewarded by a Raiders victory at home. On Monday morning, we should be looking at a 7-4 record and one game closer to winning the AFC West in 2011.

K.C. Dermody grew up in the Bay Area of California, and has been an Oakland Raiders fan from the time she could walk. She has continued her loyalty to the team through its many ups and downs over the decades, and has been privileged to meet several of her favorite players, including famed quarterback, Jim Plunkett . Follow her at www.facebook.com/KCDermodyWriter or on Twitter @kcdermody.

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OAKLAND, Calif. — When the Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders last met less than two months ago, quarterbacks Tim Tebow and Carson Palmer found themselves in far different situations.Tebow was sitting behind Kyle Orton and Brady Quinn as the third-stringer in Denver, where fans pleaded to see him get a chance to play in the Broncos 23-20 loss to the Raiders.Palmer was back home in Southern California in a forced retirement because of his refusal to play with the Cincinnati Bengals anymore.The two former Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks will be on center stage Sunday in Oakland when the Broncos (2-5) visit the Raiders (4-3) looking to prove their skeptics wrong.Tebow is trying to show that the determination and intensity that helped make him one of the most accomplished college players ever can translate to the pros, even if his many vocal critics in the media maintain he lacks the polished passing game necessary to succeed in the NFL.”You’re going to have people that praise you and people that criticize you and everything in between,” he said. “If I listened to everything that you all say, my world would be so up and down. … If I rode the roller coaster of what everybody says about me then my life would be a lot more hectic than what it is.”Because of his remarkable success and popularity at Florida after winning two national championships and the 2007 Heisman Trophy, Tebow has probably gotten more attention and scrutiny than any other quarterback with five career starts.His backers point to his comeback win two weeks ago in Miami as evidence of what he can accomplish with will and grit. His bashers have had much more ammunition as Tebow was ineffective for the first 55 minutes against the Dolphins and then looked over-matched in a 45-10 loss to Detroit last week.And they haven’t been quiet about it as many of the Lions and former players in the media have trashed Tebow at every opportunity.”It’s rough to see all the guys bash him and see the media bash him. But it’s part of it. It comes with the territory,” said Raiders receiver Louis Murphy, who played with Tebow at Florida. “He’s going to come out fighting this week. Doesn’t matter. He’s going to come out and fight. He’s a competitor. That’s what he does.”Tebow has completed 46.1 percent of his passes this season and has been sacked 13 times in his two starts. The Broncos had eight possessions of three plays or fewer against Detroit, turned it over once on downs and three times on takeaways — two of which were returned for touchdowns.”It’s never as good as it seems and it’s never as bad as it seems, we’ve just got to keep even keel, keep grinding and keep getting better,” Tebow said.Tebow made his first career start in Oakland last December and it was typical of much of his time in the NFL — a few spectacular highlights mixed around mostly pedestrian quarterback play. He threw a 33-yard TD pass and ran for a 40-yard score, but finished 8 for 16 for 138 yards in a 39-23 loss.”He made some pretty good throws. He’s definitely got the talent and the ability,” Raiders cornerback Stanford Routt said. “Tebow is obviously a winner. He’s won two national championships and two Heisman Trophies. If we don’t come to play, this could get ugly.”Palmer is also looking to bounce back from a rough outing. He made his Raiders debut two weeks ago when he relieved Kyle Boller in the third quarter of a 28-0 loss to Kansas City and threw three interceptions, including one that was returned for a touchdown.That debacle came just five days after he was acquired by the Raiders to replace injured starter Jason Campbell. Palmer knew only a handful of plays, had just three practices to learn his receivers and was still getting used to throwing with pads again.After a learning intensive bye week when the receivers stayed in town to get extra work with their quarterback, Palmer said there’s no comparison to that first appearance.”I am comfortable with the entire playbook, comfortable with the guys, comfortable with the snap count, where to stand in the huddle-every little bit that I’ve been around here, every second that I’ve had, I just learn more and more,” he said.While Palmer once was considered one of the NFL’s top quarterbacks, he struggled his last few years in Cincinnati as his arm strength was hampered by an elbow injury.That led some skeptics to question whether the Raiders gave up too much when they sent a 2012 first-round pick and a second-rounder in 2013 that becomes a first if Oakland makes the AFC title game to Cincinnati for a quarterback .”People on TV, they’re like, ‘Oh, he doesn’t have the arm strength,”‘ said Raiders receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh. “They don’t know what they’re talking about.”Houshmandzadeh played six seasons with Palmer with the Bengals and works out with him every off-season. He said he noticed this summer that the arm strength was finally back, something Palmer credits to being able to rest his arm during the lockout.With his arm healthy and his comfort level rising, the Raiders hope they can see the Palmer of old instead of just an old Palmer.”He knows his teammates, he knows what this offense is now and what it needs to be, and the players can sense that confidence now,” coach Hue Jackson said. “It’s like riding a bike. Once you know how to do it, you don’t forget.”