2 quarterbacks who should be benched after Week 7 clunkers, 2 who saved jobs

The early portion of the NFL Week 7 slate has wrapped up. While there weren't as many high-profile matchups as in previous weeks, several close games and a couple stunning upsets more than made up for it.

The Baltimore Ravens ran roughshod over the 5-1 Detroit Lions. The Cleveland Browns' No. 1 defense met its match in... Gardner Minshew and the Indianapolis Colts. The New England Patriots almost caught the Buffalo Bills sleeping. The Chicago Bears did catch the Las Vegas Raiders sleeping, but hey, that's like catching a grizzly bear sleeping in the winter. That's what they always do.

It's a bit of a strange slate for benching QBs. A lot of backups stepping in for injured starters and a lot of players who, frankly, outperformed expectations. So, we're mixing it up with a couple QBs to bench and one who went above and beyond to save his job.

Raiders should relegate Brian Hoyer to QB3 on depth chart

Let's be frank. The Las Vegas Raiders were the worst 3-3 team coming into the week and this result should not come as a huge surprise. The Bears have been working toward a big win for a couple weeks now, and rookie Tyson Bagent looked quite good under center. Maybe the Raiders should give their rook a try.

Hoyer completed 17-of-32 passes for 129 yards and two touchdowns before ceding snaps to Aidan O'Connell late in the game. It should have been O'Connell from the jump. The fourth-round pick struggled in his lone start in Week 4 and struggled, but such is life for a young quarterback. There's no point in starting 38-year-old Hoyer when he doesn't remotely raise the team's competitive ceiling (or floor, for that matter).

Jimmy Garoppolo is expected back in the saddle for the Raiders' Week 8 game on Monday Night Football, but this should be the last week of Hoyer as the Raiders' nominal QB2. If Jimmy G can't go, it should be O'Connell from here on out. The Raiders aren't going anywhere soon, frankly, and there's value in seeing if O'Connell has a future at the helm before the 2024 NFL Draft.

Heck, it's probably time to start considering O'Connell over Garoppolo, but that's not a decision Josh McDaniels would make until late in the season — and only if he has the unwavering support of ownership. If McDaniels is on the hot seat, the Raiders are going to stick with the vets for better or (mostly) worse.