Former Bear Gets A Shot at Old Team

The Bears on Sunday will face the quarterback who last won a start while he wore their uniform.

It was a long time ago.

According to a report by The Athletic's Dianna Russini, Brian Hoyer will replace injured Jimmy Garoppolo and make his 13th start since he was quarterback for Bears at Ford Field Oct. 2, 2016 when they won 17-14 over the Lions.

He went 28 of 36 that day for the Bears with 302 yards and two TDs to Eddie Royal and Zach Miller. Jordan Howard pounded the Lions defense for 111 rushing yards while Akiem Hicks and Cornelius Washington had sacks and Jacoby Glenn and Deiondre' Hall interceptions. The

Since then his teams lost his last 12 starts for San Francisco, New England and Indianapolis, and one of those was for the Colts when Matt Eberflus was their defensive coordinator in 2019.

Hoyer's career with the Bears came to a painful end. He was starting for injured Jay Cutler and they had lost three of his four starts when he suffered a broken arm at Lambeau Field in a 26-10 defeat.

"I mean, obviously, the obvious is the experience, you know, Hoyer's had a lot of ball," Eberflus said. "He's seen a lot of coverages. He's seen everything. And so he's been in a lot of meetings with (coach) Josh (McDaniels), so they have a familiarity there. He has a good feeling for that offense. So I think it was a comfort level there. He's got solid mobility to escape when needed. You know, OK. But again, that's not what he does. He's a rhythm passer."

Hoyer was in New England with McDaniels in the offense the Raiders coach has installed.

Hoyer with the Bears was 134 of 200 (67%) for 1,445 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions and an outstanding 98.0 passer rating. In fact, the only passer with 200 or more passes with a better Bears passer rating than Hoyer was Josh McCown with a 101.0 for 279 attempts.

It didn't seem to be a popuar decision with Raiders fans, who wanted to see more of their young passer Aidan O'Connell. The Long Grove, Ill. native from Purdue started and lost 24-17 against the Chargers in the game Khalil Mack had six sacks.

McDaniel needs to be fired. Nothing but terrible decisions from that clown...
— Killmore Slim (@KillmoreSlim) October 20, 2023

Hoyer, who is 38, just finished a win against another one of h is old teams. The Raiders beat the Patriots on Sunday and he went 6 of 10 for 102 yards in the second half relieving Garoppolo, who suffered a back injury.

"It was good for me to get back out and actually play some football," Hoyer told Raiders reports. "Other than few drives in the preseason, the last time I played was last October. I had a good week of preparation. It's always good to get out there against live bullets."

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