London fog: Bears look lost in first half, lose 24-21 to Raiders

Cornerback Gareon Conley intercepted quarterback Chase Daniel at the Raiders’ 23-yard with 1:22 to play, sealing a win after the Bears rallied from a 17-0 halftime deficit, only to give up a game-winning touchdown on a drive extended by a successful fake punt.

LONDON — The Bears woke up from their London Fog on Sunday, but not soon enough, losing 24-21 to a Raiders team that any team with Super Bowl aspirations absolutely had to beat.

Cornerback Gareon Conley intercepted quarterback Chase Daniel at the Raiders’ 23-yard line with 1:22 to play, sealing a win after the Bears rallied from a 17-0 halftime deficit, only to give up a game-winning touchdown on a drive extended by a successful fake punt.

The Raiders running back who leapt over the pile to put his team ahead by three? Rookie Josh Jacobs, who the Raiders drafted with one of the first-round picks the Bears traded for Khalil Mack.

The Bears enter the bye week 3-2 after the easiest part of their schedule.

For the first half, they looked like a team that hadn’t yet adjusted to London time after landing only on Friday morning.

They needed a miracle to get into the game, and they got one.

After gaining zero yards on the first drive of the second half — their fourth-straight three-and-out in a game they trailed 17-0 — Raiders quarterback Derek Carr took a second-down snap, turned left and pitched the ball to Jacobs, who wasn’t looking. The ball bounded down the field, from the Raiders’ 31 all the way to their 14, before Mack, the former Raiders star, recovered it for the Bears.

Lamarcus Joyner’s defensive holding penalty two plays later gave the Bears first-and-goal at the 5, and they scored two plays after that on David Montgomery’s one-yard run.

The Bears defense then forced their first punt since the first quarter. Daniel converted two third downs, the second a 32-yard pass to Anthony Miller on third-and-2 that got the Bears to the 9. Daniel threw a touchdown to Allen Robinson from the 4, and the Bears, with life, were down only three.

The Bears forced another punt and Tarik Cohen took it up the sideline, jumping between two tacklers at a dead run at midfield before being tackled 71 yards later at the Bears’ 16. On the next play, Robinson caught a jump ball one step right of the word “Raiders” in the end zone to, with about a minute eft in the third quarter, give the bears their first lead.

The fourth quarter didn’t feature the same scoring, but was just as dramatic. Sherrick McManis — a team captain Sunday, but only two weeks ago a healthy scratch — used the “Peanut Punch” to knock the ball out of receiver Trevor Davis’ arms at the goal line. Cornerback Prince Amukamara recovered the ball.

Daniel appeared to give it back, throwing an interception to Raiders cornerback Daryl Worley, but the play came back when Maurice Hurst was flagged for roughing the passer.

The Bears eventually flipped the field almost entirely, punting and downing the ball at the Raiders’ 3.

The Bears appeared to force a punt with 5:46 to play, but linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis was flagged for running into the punter, a five-yard penalty. The Raiders lined up to punt on fourth-and-one from their own 27, but faked it. Upback Erik Harris took the snap and plunged forward to four yards, but fumbled the ball. Review showed his elbow hit the ground first, giving the Raiders a first down.

By the two-minute warning, the Raiders had first and goal at the 2. Jacobs then plunged over the goal line for a touchdown, putting the Raiders up three with 1:57 to play.

The Bears’ rally came after the worst football half of the Matt Nagy era.

Through the game’s first 30 minutes, the Raiders outscored the Bears 17-0 and outgained them 208 yards to 44. They had 14 first downs to the Bears’ two.

Jacobs scored the game’s first touchdown, a 12-yard run, on the first play of the second quarter.

When he scored, Jacobs had gained 46 yards on the ground in the game. The Bears had allowed just one 100-yard rusher in regulation the last 38 regular-season games.

Daniel made his worst mistake of the night three plays later, throwing an interception to inside linebacker Nicholas Morrow, who dropped underneath a throw toward Trey Burton. He returned it 11 yards to the Bears’ 24.

After cornerback Kyle Fuller was flagged for defensive holding on a failed third-down pass, the Raiders were given first-and-goal at the 3 and scored on DeAndre Washington’s run.

The Bears actually lost four yards on their next drive, another three-and-out, only to be ground down again by the Raiders, who ran five-and-a-half minutes of clock before Daniel Carlson kicked a 41-yard field goal after the two-minute warning.

The Bears fell all over themselves on the next three-and-out, too, checking down on third-and-21 and punting again.

Perhaps the most disheartening part of the half: defensive end Akiem Hicks, who started despite missing his first-ever Bears game last week with a knee injury, left seven plays into the game after suffering a grisly elbow injury. He did not return.