LONDON – Bears receiver Allen Robinson continued to shine Sunday in London, catching seven passes for 97 yards and his first two touchdowns of the season in a 24-21 loss to the Raiders at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The sixth-year pro helped turn a 17-7 deficit into a 21-17 lead in a 2:40 span late in the third quarter with TD receptions of 4 and 16 yards from Chase Daniel on back-to-back possessions.
The second touchdown was especially impressive, as Robinson hauled in Daniel's pass by outleaping cornerback Gareon Conley in the end zone. But Robinson's best catch of the game came in a crucial situation early in the fourth quarter.
On third-and-eight from the Bears' 8, Robinson hauled in a 32-yard pass down the right sideline, getting both feet inbounds while absorbing a big hit.
"You're seeing right now what he can do," said coach Matt Nagy. "The whole league is seeing it, and we appreciate that. I've said it from Day 1; this kid, he comes to work every single day. He works hard, he's passionate, he's tough. He cares about the game. He wants to do well. He wants to win."
Through five games this season, Robinson leads the Bears in all receiving categories with 31 receptions, 377 yards and two touchdowns.
"He's great," Nagy said. "He's a playmaker. He's special. He's somebody that makes you a good coach, makes you call good plays."
Key loss: Bears Pro Bowl defensive tackle Akiem Hicks exited with an elbow injury on the game's opening possession and did not return.
"Not to discredit the guys we have up front," said cornerback Prince Amukamara. "I feel our front seven is amazing. But everybody knows that Akiem is a huge part of our defense. I feel like that hurt us. It really shows how valuable he is to our team."
Hicks was sidelined by a knee injury last Sunday and the Bears defense completely shut down the Vikings in a 16-6 win. So what was the difference?
"Last week was a different scenario," Amukamara said. "Last week we got up on them early, so now you can't just keep running, running. Now it's more of a passing game., This game, they got up on us early. Now they're supposed to run, run, run, eat the clock and no need to pass. So it was just two different scenarios."
Not a factor: The Bears came out flat on both sides of the ball, but Nagy doesn't think it had anything to do with the team not arriving in London until Friday morning. The Raiders came into town Monday, leaving from Indianapolis after last Sunday's game against the Colts.
"Had nothing to do with when we came here and when we didn't," Nagy said. "It's about playing football."
"I don't think that was it," Amukamara added. "I feel like if you do that, you kind of discredit what Oakland did scheme-wise, and I feel like they just had great calls. That first series they punched us in the mouth and it just seemed like we weren't able to recover that first half."
Defense struggles: The Bears did not record a sack for the first time this season after registering 5, 2, 4 and 6 in their first four games. They were credited with only one quarterback hit (by Khalil Mack).
The defense allowed a season-high 398 total yards and a season-worst 50 percent conversation rate on third downs (6-of-12).
After limiting the Vikings rushing attack to 40 yards on 16 carries last weekend, the Bears run defense yielded a season-high 169 yards on 39 attempts to the Raiders.
