To be blunt, the Raiders didn’t do enough things exceptionally well to beat the Chicago Bears.

Yet, they still almost did. Which makes this loss all the more upsetting.

Before the blocked would-be game-winning field goal in the closing seconds, this game could’ve gotten out of hand early for Las Vegas.

They committed three turnovers in the first half – two interceptions from Geno Smith and a fumble when the Bears defense ran through the interior line on a fourth-and-one to strip the ball out of Ashton Jeanty‘s hands.

On the Raiders’ first play in the second half, Smith threw his third interception of the game, making it his second game this season with at least three interceptions.

“I owe it to my teammates to go out there and play better,” Smith said postgame. “I felt like we had a great week of practice. I felt like the process was there. I was feeling good about what I was seeing, the game plan was great. Guys fought their tails off. Guys deserved to get this win and I let those guys down.

“It was a lot of things I’m going to have to fix within myself. That’s the reality. I’m not going to sugarcoat it, I’ve got to be a lot better.”

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There are two reasons the Raiders stayed competitive in this game despite committing four turnovers. The first being their defensive prowess.

The defense didn’t allow the Bears to reach the end zone until the third quarter, holding them to three field goals in the first half. The Bears offense was limited to going 7-of-16 on third down and 1-of-4 in the red zone, and quarterback Caleb Williams completed 59.5 percent of his passes, his lowest mark of the season.

“You can’t expect to turn the ball over like that and win. It almost doesn’t happen,” Pete Carroll said. “But we overcame it because the defense was so spectacular in the first half making those stops. They were great. It gave us a chance. The score could’ve been ridiculous after the first quarter, but it wasn’t. We learn, we grow and we have to do better.”

Additionally, Maxx Crosby secured his first career interception after tipping a ball up in the air and recovering it. And Crosby could’ve potentially had another two interceptions on deflected passes as well.

Along with his three pass deflections and interceptions, the Raiders edge rusher had three tackles for loss and a forced fumble on Williams.

“I mean, we’re really close. We were right there,” Crosby said. “It came down to the last play. We’ve got to find a way to not make it so hard on ourselves. It’s the only thing we can do. It freaking hurts, it sucks. I hate losing. I know everybody in the locker room hates losing. So, we’ve just got to find ways to win.”

The other reason the Raiders still almost pulled out a victory: the explosion of their rushing attack.

After weeks of Jeanty getting acclimated to the next level and offensive line concerns, the Silver and Black rushed for 240 yards as a team against the Bears.

That’s 23 more rushing yards than their first three games combined.

The rookie running back had a hat trick in Allegiant Stadium with 155 scrimmage yards and three total touchdowns, 138 of those yards coming on the ground. After being inactive the first three games of the season, Raheem Mostert rushed for 62 yards on four carries in his Raiders debut.

“I think we had a great week of preparation,” Jackson Powers-Johnson said of their offensive line play. “I think the staff and everyone involved in the run game and the pass game just really dialed in. I think we did a lot better.”

But Jeanty’s breakout game and another dominant showing from Crosby just weren’t enough.

The Raiders offense went 2-of-8 on third-down conversions and lost the time of possession battle by nearly seven minutes. And after playing stout defense throughout the game, they allowed the Bears to drive down the field 69 yards on 11 plays to ultimately score the game-winning touchdown by D’Andre Swift.

So, yes – the Raiders can hang their hat on fighting until to end and almost winning a game that could’ve easily been out of reach by halftime.

But do the Raiders see that as a silver lining now falling to 1-3 to start the season?

“Hell no. Hell no,” Devin White exclaimed. “You can’t be happy about losing nothing. [There’s] going to be positive in there and you’ve just got to take it and even get better from that. Because you probably [were] just an inch away from an even making a better play. But you can’t be happy about a loss.

“The NFL is a ‘what can you do for me right now’ type of league and right now, 1-3 ain’t doing nothing for the Raiders organization, for the fans, for nobody. … But at the end of the day, we can’t let this linger over our heads because [we’ve] got another one coming up Sunday against a good team.”