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Even with efficient defense, Raiders can't overcome costly penalties

Derek Carr didn't leave any room for people to over analyze and question why the Raiders fell to the Chicago Bears, 20-9.

"I just don't think we played good enough," said Carr. "If we just sit back and look at it, we just haven't played at the standard that we expect. Not even close"

It wasn't all bad for the Raiders on Sunday. The defense turned in a solid performance, holding rookie quarterback Justin Fields to 111 passing yards and the team to under 50 percent on third down conversions. Yannick Ngakoue even got his first two sacks of the season.

"We did our thing on a lot of three-and-outs," Ngakoue said after the game.

"As a defensive player I'm proud of everybody – all of the guys who stepped up. We just got to keep working."

Head Coach Jon Gruden also touched on the collective performance of the defense, which only allowed two touchdowns to the Bears.

"I think they played hard. They did some really good things," Gruden said. "We struggled in the first half; we couldn't get the ball. I think we only had 25 snaps of offense in the first half. We played better in the second half. We made some mistakes early in the football game defensively, but we still are looking for a turnover. We've got to get some field position established.

"They're playing hard, we're doing some good things and there's some individual efforts that are just outstanding, but it wasn't enough today. You've got to win in all three phases and we didn't do that today."

The biggest damage done to the Raiders wasn't even from the Chicago Bears, more so self-inflicted wounds.

The Raiders committed 10 penalties, backing themselves up 82 total yards. Several of the holding penalties cost the Raiders points on a would-be Josh Jacobs touchdown run in the first quarter. A few roughing the passer penalties were detrimental in moving the Bears offense into scoring position to start the second quarter.

"The penalties, they've got to stop," Gruden said. "We had some on defense that allowed them to continue drives as well but it all falls back on me."

Even in defeat, Ngakoue – reeling of his two sack performance – isn't presumptuous of any downfall this early in the season. As a team captain and veteran, he knows there's a lot of football left to play.

"It's a long season. There's a lot of games left, a lot of opportunities to continue to stack wins," said Ngakoue. "I wouldn't be discouraged at all. This is a very long season and we have a special and talented team in all three phases of the ball.

"We just have to bring it together."

View photos from the Raiders' Week 5 matchup against the Chicago Bears at Allegiant Stadium.

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