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Game Recap: Bears thump Raiders in Las Vegas

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An impressive display of complementary football fueled the Bears to an exciting 20-9 win over the Raiders Sunday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

The defense allowed just one touchdown, Khalil Herbert and Damien Williams combined to rush for 139 yards and Cairo Santos made a pair of clutch 46-yard field goals in the fourth quarter.

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

With their second straight win—and first in three road games this season—the Bears improved to 3-2, one game behind the first-place Packers (4-1) in the NFC North.

Sunday's contest was a physical one—just as the Bears expected. Nagy described it as "just one of those black and blue games."

"We talked about it last night in the team meeting, we talked about it all week long," Nagy said. "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."

Justin Fields competed 12 of 20 passes for 111 yards and his first NFL touchdown while posting a 91.9 passer rating. It was his third straight start but first since being anointed the Bears' permanent starting quarterback on Wednesday.

Khalil Mack delivered a monster performance against his former team. The perennial Pro Bowler recorded one sack, drew a penalty that nullified a touchdown, made a key fourth-down stop and registered another sack on a two-point conversion play.

Here's what transpired throughout the game:

First half

The Raiders took a 3-0 lead on Daniel Carlson's 31-yard field goal with 4:00 left in the first quarter. The kick came after Josh Jacobs' apparent 2-yard touchdown run was nullified by a holding penalty on tight end Foster Moreau versus Mack.

The Bears answered with a 10-play, 72-yard drive capped by Fields' first NFL touchdown pass, a 2-yarder to Jesper Horsted, that gave them a 7-3 lead early in the second quarter. The Raiders committed three penalties on the drive, including two for roughing the passer.

The Bears defense then forced the Raiders to turn the ball over on downs at the Chicago 27 as Roquan Smith dropped Derek Carr for no gain on third-and-1 and Mack stuffed Jacobs for no gain on fourth-and-1.

The Bears took a 14-3 lead as Williams juked cornerback Amik Robertson on a 4-yard touchdown run with 1:56 left in the first half. The run capped a 16-play, 86-yard drive that burned 8:17 off the clock.

Fields exited with an injury on the drive after being sacked by Yannick Ngakoue and was replaced by Andy Dalton. Fields was examined in the medical tent but returned to the game after missing only three plays.

In the first half, the Bears rushed for 98 yards on 20 carries behind a strong performance by their offensive line, with Williams gaining 51 yards on 11 attempts and Herbert adding 44 yards on seven carries.

Second half

The Bears registered the game's first takeaway on the Raiders' second possession of the second half when DeAndre Houston-Carson intercepted a long Carr pass that was intended for receiver Zay Jones.

The Raiders eventually cut the deficit to 14-9 on Jacobs' 1-yard TD run with 9:01 left in the fourth quarter. But Mack sacked Carr on the subsequent two-point conversion attempt. The TD capped a 16-play, 74-yard drive that took 8:19. Carr was injured on a third-and-1 quarterback sneak on the drive and replaced briefly by Nathan Peterman. But Carr returned after sitting out just four plays.

The Bears responded by increasing their lead to 17-9 on Santos' clutch 46-yard field goal with 2:45 to play in regulation. The drive was sustained by Fields' 13-yard pass to Darnell Mooney on third-and-12 from the Chicago 27.

The Raiders turned the ball over on downs as Carr threw incomplete over the middle on fourth-and-5 from the Las Vegas 30 with 1:55 left.

Santos followed with another 46-yard field goal, widening the margin to 20-9 with :56 remaining. The kick iced a second impressive win for the Bears following a disappointing Week 3 loss to the Browns.

Asked what he's learned about his team of late, Nagy said: "That we fight, plain and simple. I don't make it hard. I just make it real simple and these guys, they fight. They don't care what's going on, other than it's a brotherhood. They talked about it in [the locker room]. It's a brotherhood right now, and it's tight. These guys love each other, and when you love each other, man, you play hard for each other. It's crazy how that works."

Take a behind-the-lens look at the Bears' Week 5 game against the Raiders through the shots of our field-level photographers inside Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

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