Ashton Jeanty’s day not enough to stop third straight Raiders loss

LAS VEGAS—The Las Vegas Raiders have suffered a heartbreaker.

On Sunday, the Raiders dropped their third straight game, losing a 25-25 contest to the Chicago Bears at Allegiant Stadium.

With a minute and a half remaining, the Bears put themselves in the lead with a D’Andre Swift touchdown run. After stopping the two-point conversion, the Raiders drove down the field with the opportunity to win. However, Daniel Carlson’s 54-yard field goal was blocked, sealing the Raiders’ fate and dropping them to last place in the AFC West.

Here are some of the major takeaways from a back-and-forth game that could have gone either way.

Maxx-imum destruction

The great defensive players always find ways to make their mark on games, and Maxx Crosby certainly did just that against the Bears.

The first quarter featured one of the most impressive individual plays of Crosby’s career, tipping a Caleb Williams pass in the red zone and recording his first career interception. It was just one of the many highlights Crosby put up, recording three tackles for loss, three pass deflections and a forced fumble as well as the interception. Crosby was pushing for a massive game from himself and the Raiders defense after last week’s letdown against the Washington Commanders, and he more than delivered on that front.

Leaving the door open

While the defense did their part to keep the Raiders in it, they had to see the field far too often due to the mistakes on the other side of the ball.

The Raiders offense melted down far too often, with the Bears forcing four turnovers during the game. Geno Smith, in particular, tied his career high with three interceptions, giving the Bears great field position to start out offensive drives. Williams eventually found wide receiver and Las Vegas native Rome Odunze for a touchdown in the third quarter, but that was the only time the Bears found the end zone on those four tries.

Despite the strong defensive outing, too many drives came up empty because of the mistakes.

Vegas 2-step

Ashton Jeanty had far and away his best game to date as a NFL player, despite losing a fumble in the first quarter.

Shortly after recording the first receiving touchdown of his career, Jeanty finally showed off his high draft pedigree with a 64-yard gash to extend a Raiders lead. The sixth overall pick would finish the day with 138 rushing yards and a touchdown down on 21 carries, as well as 17 yards and two touchdowns on as many receptions. Even in defeat, Jeanty did wonders for the confidence of himself and Raiders fans who have longed for a game like this from him.