No Miracle Comeback At Allegiant Stadium Sunday: Raiders Drop Lackluster 20-9 Decision To Chicago Bears In Mistake-Filled Performance
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By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
No miracle comeback. No cardiac finish. No victory in overtime.
The Las Vegas Raiders Sunday lost to the visiting Chicago Bears, 20-9, as Raiders quarterback Derek Carr could not find a single open receiver on a last play with the game’s fate sealed and simply ran out of bounds to conclude a disappointing and lackluster Raiders performance.
The Bears had a lot of fans in the stands at Allegiant Stadium where paid attendance was 59,122. And if there’s any consolation prize is that all these Bears visitors stayed in lots of hotel rooms and paid a hotel room tax charge that is helping fund the public’s contribution to build the stadium that hosted today’s NFL game.
The Raiders lost their second game in six days after winning their first three games. There were all types of mistakes — roughing the quarterback and false start flags; dropped passes; allowing third down conversions by Chicago; and an offensive line that has not gelled.
“Way too many penalties,” Raiders coach Jon Gruden said after the game. “We’re capable of playing better.”
The Raiders’ sole touchdown was a rush by Josh Jacobs that cut the Chicago lead to 14-9 in the fourth quarter.
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This was the first Raiders game after news hit about Gruden’s email from 10 years ago that contained comments on a racist trope that received national attention Friday.
Gruden apologized about the racist email, but had not answered questions about the missive to Washington team president Bruce Allen at a press conference before today’s postgame presser.
Carr was also asked about the game’s mistakes and the Gruden email situation.
Raiders superfan Jack Freeman showed up at Allegiant Stadium at 7 am today.
But that was too early for stadium parking workers, who open the gate to Lot J outside the domed venue at 9 am.
So, Freeman, better known as “Parking Lot JacK” who was a fixture at the old Coliseum parking Lot D, waited at the Chevron station on the corner of Russell Road and Polaris Avenue for an hour. Then, he was allowed to get on line at 8 am to enter the parking lot at 9.
“It’s my heart, mind and soul,” Freeman said about 15 minutes after being allowed in to set up his tailgating operation. “It’s an obsession.”
Freeman’s back story is that he lived in Oakland where he was in the towing and gas station business. But he now he lives in Richmond in the Bay area and keeps his two Raiders-mobiles in Las Vegas for pre-game action.
He has a few family members setting up chairs, two large tents, a grill and tables.
Everyone is working with urgency and the setup takes 45 minutes.
After a half-hour, there is an entire row of Raiders tailgating tents arranged along the lot perimeter on Polaris Avenue a short walk to the stadium.
A Bears fan tailgating party began setting up shop about a half-hour after the gates opened. It’s $100 a parking spot.
Fan and head gear both vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter the stadium.
Inside the stadium for today’s 1 PM start, Raiders vs Bears.
The Raiders’ slow starts and fast finishes that ended with OT wins against Baltimore and Miami at Allegiant Stadium sparked some optimism that the home team would catch fire in the second half or fourth quarter Sunday.
The Raiders scored their only three points of the first half on Daniel Carlson’s 31-yard field goal in the first quarter. The Raiders nearly scored a touchdown, but receiver Bryan Edwards could not hold on to a pass in the end zone. Carlson then booted the field goal.
The Bears scored 14 points in the second quarter as rookie quarterback Justin Fields is the established starting signal-caller.
The Raiders mustered only 126 total net yards in the first half, along with six first downs.
“We need to stop spotting teams in the first half,” Raiders linebacker Denzel Perryman said.
In the second half, there were more miscues. Edwards dropped a pass when he was wide open behind a Chicago defender early in the third quarter.
And in the final two minutes, Carr overthrew an open Edwards on a floater pass with the Raiders trailing by eight points.
There would be no overtime wins at Allegiant Stadium for the Raiders this time.
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Half-hour before kickoff and there’s a ticket for $100 on Ticketmaster.
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Raiders game happenings:
Criss Angel the magician got out of a straight jacket about an hour before the game after Davis helped him put the jacket on.
Journey Neal Schon founder played the national anthem.
Ludacris performed at halftime.
Naturally, Bruce Buffer the intro man got the NFL game going with his patented, “It’s time.”
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