The last time the Bears played the Raider, in London in 2019, it was one of the most disappointing games of the season. They were 3-1 going into the game, the defense was playing arguably better than it had in 2018 up to that point, and Khalil Mack was set to get his revenge against the team that traded him.
But it didn’t work out the way the Bears, or Mack wanted. Akiem Hicks left the game early with an elbow injury, the Raiders gashed the defense for 398 yards and three touchdowns, and was left with three tackles, and no sacks一 he didn’t even register a QB hit.
“It’s something that you look at when you study the film and understand what they wanted to do and the message they wanted to send,” Mack said, leading up to the Bears’ rematch against the Raiders.
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That “message” was that Jon Gruden was not going to allow Mack to beat his team. It worked, the Bears were left to lick their wounds, and the loss ended up being the starting point of a four-game losing streak.
So when the time came for the Bears to get another crack at the Raiders, Mack admitted he was looking forward to getting another shot to play well against his former team. It’d be human nature not to!
This time, Mack came through and his fingerprints all over the Bears’ victory.
“Oh man, it was amazing,” said Eddie Jackson. “He made them regret everything. Made them regret not wanting to keep him. You know, Mack's our leader. He's had games like this. We fuel off that. Just to see come back here and dominate, it's a great feeling.”
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Mack ended up second on the team with eight tackles total, including one sack. He dropped his pal Derek Carr one more time, on a critical two-point attempt that would’ve cut the Bears’ lead from five to three, midway through the fourth quarter.
While the revenge may have been sweetest for Mack, the whole team was looking to get even after 2019’s loss.
“When you’ve got to fly the whole way home from London with that feeling in your stomach, you remember that,” Matt Nagy said. “I don’t care what anybody says, you remember that.”
“Every game, you want to win every one, but this was special,” said Jackson.
The Bears have another “special” game coming up next week. They’ll play host to the Packers in a game for first place in the division. We’ll see if they can use the momentum from this special win, to go get another.