Both the Raiders and the Bears

enters Sunday's game with the same record, one and two overall. But how similar are these two teams, or are they? You'll find out that plus more on Thursday's edition of the Locked-on Raiders podcast September 25th, 2025. You are Locked-on Raiders, your daily Las Vegas Raiders podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome me, Raider Nation, to another edition to the Locked-on Raiders podcast. Thank you so much for making the show your first listen to the day. We definitely appreciate you if you're catching the show wherever you find your favorite podcasts or checking us out by way of the YouTube page. You know, we appreciate both. The show continues to grow each and every day because of your consistent support and the great job that my man Ari does behind the scenes each and every day, making sure we look good and sound good each and every day. So we shout him out. We appreciate him. He's on Twitter at Ari produces. You can hit me up as well on Twitter at your boy Q254. And if you want to be a part of the show, got the Lockdown Raider podcast, voicemail line for you, 707, 654, 4-6993.

No calls or text on today's show. Today is Thursdays. So each and every week on Thursdays, we have crossover Thursdays. What does that mean? Well, the next team up on the schedule for the Raiders, the host of that show will join this show. And we'll talk about storylines.

We'll talk about matchups.

We'll talk about keys to victory.

So Chicago Bears are up next week for action at the Legion Stadium.

Lauren Kahn. We'll join this show and we'll talk about storylines. We'll talk about matchups. We'll talk about keys to victory.

So Chicago Bears are up next week four action at the Legion Stadium. Lauren Cox does a fantastic job. Host a locked on Bears joins the shows. And again, storylines, matchups, and the key to victory on today's show. So he does a fantastic job. It's always great to compare and contrast and join the show with him. We'll jump right into it after I tell you about the title sponsor of this show, which is prize picks.

Download the prize picks app today and use the promo code locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. So let's go ahead and jump right into it. Segment number one, we give the biggest storylines. Lauren Cox and me talk about the storylines for the one and two bears and the one and two Raiders.

Exact same records, but two teams that feel a lot different. Let's go ahead and jump over and jump into part number one. Q, we start over in Raiderland where I think both these teams are trying to figure out some different things and get their running games going and stop something bleeding on

defense what are you looking at the biggest storyline entering this week well i'm trying to see who the

raiders really are right it's funny that both teams come into this game with the same record but the

bears are coming off a big victory over the cowboys where it looked like their offense was ascending

where you look at the raiders they've lost two straight now and it feels like maybe, you know, sliding backwards a little bit after winning their first game of the season against the Patriots. So they can have the same record, but it just doesn't have the same feel right now. And, you know, the Raiders really hit the struggle bust on Sunday against the commanders. And granted, they were coming off a short week against the charges. They played on Monday night football and the commanders basically had 10 days off before they played but the expectations were for them to make

that trip to DC and play a lot better and they haven't done that and the offensive line has been

the story of conversation since that game just because Gino Smith got sacked five times and

Ashton Gentie as a guy that was picked number six overall,

really hasn't got the run game going to the level of what his expectations or Rader Nation's

expectations have been. So I think a lot of folks in the biggest storyline will be, can this

offensive line start to come together, can it start to jail, can they give Gino Smith some time,

can they open up some rush lanes for Ashton J? Lauren, this guy has 145 rushing yards after contact and has a total of 144 rushing yards on the season. Right? I mean, it's comical. Like, I'm, you know, like I don't, I'm not a comedian, but that's real. It's comical that that's where the Raiders are right now with their offensive line and what they've been able to do. And so they need to remedy that. So the biggest storyline is, can this offensive line start to come together? It's only going to be the second time if Jackson Powers Johnson is actually in the starting lineup that has been the same, you know, starting five, the starting offensive line that was in week one. Well, there's going to be so many Bears fans listening to this going, why are you ruining Ashton Genty? We wanted him so badly. If you would have just let us take him, then he would be having such a better season. And yet, you know, the Bears haven't been able to run the ball very effectively as well. And both teams are going to be trying to get that ground game going a little bit more. But I'm curious, do you think the Raiders and maybe Raiders Nation more broadly sees the Bears as a team are like, oh, yeah, we should be able to get the running game going a little bit? Like, does this, does this look to you guys like the kind of game that you can get right and bounce back a little bit? or is there some legitimate, you know, I don't know, fears, too strong word, but like confidence in, oh, they actually did look really good against Dallas and that feels real or does it feel like, oh, they beat up on a bad Dallas team? Well, I mean, yeah, beat up on a bad Dallas team for sure, at least bad Dallas defense. Now, now I'll say this. I think that a lot of Raider fans feel like this is going to be a tough game because of the way that the offense for Chicago performed. I'm not talking about the running game because, as you mentioned, they haven't got to get that going yet either. But I do think that a lot of Raider Nation, I know I do as well, believe that the Raiders could start to get some sense of a run game going, only because I know that the Bears haven't necessarily stopped the run really well. Right? So I think that there's that. But all roads lead back to the offensive line, Lauren, you know how it is, man. If you don't have it in the trenches, you're just not going to be able to get a running game going and you're not going to be able to protect your quarterback. So the offensive line has to start to come together. But if they do have an opportunity to do that, I would think that it could be this week against Chicago, only because I know the rush defense is not where it needs to be, where the Bears would like it to be. So I guess it's a concern about the offense and Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson coming together and starting to figure things out.

And in Roma Dunezay, the Las Vegas guy, having a big time performance and being a nice go-to for Caleb Williams.

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