Bears Deal Raiders Second Straight Loss, 20-9

The Chicago Bears came into Allegiant Stadium and upset the struggling Las Vegas Raiders 20-9.

The Las Vegas Raiders got off to another slow start, and the ending was pretty ugly, too.

The Raiders fell behind by double digits for the fourth time this season. They took their second loss in six days, this time to the Chicago Bears, 20-9, before 65,000 fans at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas as quarterback Derek Carr and the offense struggled to score in the second straight game.

"We didn't play well on offense or defense, and we had too many penalties," said Coach Jon Gruden, whose team fell behind the Los Angeles Chargers, 14-0, in a 28-14 defeat on Monday night after getting off to their first 3-0 start since 2002. "You can't win games that way.

"Obviously, we're trying to find the right mix upfront now, but I'm not going to point fingers at the offensive line. We struggled to run the ball and in pass protection, and we dropped some passes today, too. The defense played hard and struggled in the first half but was better in the second, although we need to get some turnovers and establish some field position," said a visibly frustrated Gruden.

But for Raiders head man, he didn't try to pass the buck. "It all falls back on me."

Several players were asked after the game about allegations from the Wall Street Journal about a 10-year old email that Jon Gruden, then of ESPN sent to Bruce Allen from the now Washington Football Team.  All spoke in support of their coach, and none felt it had an impact on the game.

Jon Gruden didn't want to get into great detail about his situation, but he acknowledged he addressed the issue with his team.  He added, “I don’t have an ounce of racism in me.”

The Raiders (3-2) fell into a second-place tie with the Denver Broncos (3-2) in the AFC West after the Chargers (4-1) rallied to beat the Cleveland Browns, 47-42, to take sole possession of the division lead.

After being beaten by second-year quarterback Justin Herbert of the Chargers six days ago, this time it was rookie Justin Fields of the Bears (3-2) who led an unspectacular but efficient offense that was enough to turn back the Raiders.

In a controlled passing game, Fields completed 12-of-20 throws for 111 yards, including a two-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jesper Horsted with a 13:11 left in the first quarter to give the Bears a 7-3 lead, and the Raiders never caught up.

"Just super proud of our players, our coaches, our fans, everybody," Bears Coach Matt Nagy said. "This was one of my favorite team wins because it was so complementary.

"We talked about it last night in the team meeting, we talked about it all week long. This was going to be a fistfight in a back alley and, ironically, we're out here [in Las Vegas] with that big [heavyweight] fight last night, and I think you could kind of feel how that was going to go today.

"Our players just really stepped up to the plate when they needed to at big-time moments. You can't pick any one person out; just everybody did a good job."

The Raiders had Chicago backed up inside the 20-yard-line early in that first touchdown drive, but defensive end Yannick Ngakoue was called for roughing Fields after a pass, and the Bears went on what officially was a 72-yard touchdown drive with the help of three penalties by the Raiders.

The Bears controlled the ball for much of the game. With the help of 10 Raiders' penalties for 82 yards, in addition to Khalil Herbert rushing for 75 yards on 18 carries and Damien Williams adding 64 yards on 16 carries, including a four-yard touchdown run to cap an 86-yard drive that made it 14-3 with 1:56 remaining in the field half.

The Raiders scored first but had Josh Jacobs' two-yard touchdown run called back on a holding penalty by tackle Brandon Parker and had to settle for a 31-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead with four minutes left in the first quarter.

That came on the Raiders' second possession of the game, as they failed to score the first time they had the ball for the 11th straight game.

Las Vegas scored its only touchdown when Jacobs ran one yard for a score to cap a 74-yard drive on 16 plays to make it 14-9 with 9:01 left in the game, but former Raider Khalil Mack sacked Carr as he tried to pass for a two-point conversion.

Mack had one of the Bears' other three sacks of Carr and finished with eight total tackles.

Cairo Sanchez, who has made his last 34 field-goal tries without a miss, tacked on the final six points with two 46-yard kicks in the fourth quarter.

Carr left the game briefly earlier on the touchdown drive after taking a hit to the head from linebacker Roquan Smith while sneaking for a first down, completed 22-for-36 passes for 202 yards with no touchdowns and an interception.

In Carr's defense, he had several passes dropped, including two by usually reliable tight end Darren Waller and a bomb of more than 50 yards by wide receiver Bryan Edwards that would have put the Raiders in scoring possession.

However, Carr has not been nearly as effective as he was in the first three games, when he led the NFL with 1,203 yards passing, throwing for more than 300 yards in each outing to lead that 3-0 start.

"It hurts and it's tough to lose," Carr said afterward. "But we have to stick together, keep going out there, playing hard and get things going."

Jacobs, who played for the first time after missing two games because of an ankle injury, rushed for 48 yards on 15 carries and the touchdown, but the Raiders couldn't get him as many carries as they wanted as they tried to pass their way back into the game. They did get him into the passing game, as he caught four passes for 19 yards.

Wide receiver Hunter Renfrow led the Raiders with six catches for 56 yards, although the sure-handed receiver also had a drop, while Waller made four receptions for 45 yards and wide receiver Henry Ruggs caught three balls for 51 yards.

Linebacker Denzel Perryman led the Raiders with 12 total tackles; cornerback Amik Robertson made seven, linebacker Cory Littleton and safety Johnathan Abram each had six, while linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski and defensive end chipped in with five apiece.

Ngakoue had the Raiders' only two sacks of Fields and added three tackles, one for a loss.

The Raiders will try to get back on the winning track next Sunday when they get back into the AFC West against the Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High.

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