LONDON — With each throw and completion, Bears backup quarterback Chase Daniel looked more like the hero that the Bears’ maddeningly inconsistent offense needed.
A beautiful 17-yarder to receiver Allen Robinson over a defender and down the left sideline.
A quick 5-yarder over the middle to Robinson.
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A 6-yarder to his left to running back Tarik Cohen for a first down.
Even Daniel’s scramble and throwaway in the final 90 seconds was a heady play made in a pressure-packed moment in a game against the Raiders at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday night.
And then?
Daniel threw a pass that he described as “one we want back.” His pass sailed over receiver Anthony Miller and into the hands of cornerback Gareon Conley. It was an ugly, floating miss during a 24-21 loss, a game in which injured starter Mitch Trubisky should have felt missed.
The only fog hanging over the Bears in London is their quarterback situation. There was never a real quarterback controversy, only a manufactured one. But Sunday’s loss served as a reminder that this Bears season — and so much more — still hinges on what coach Matt Nagy can get out of Trubisky in their second season together and not what Daniel can do in a spot start in his 11th.
“That’s one of our staple plays,” Daniel said of his second interception. “We made a check and at the end, they made a better play. The whole game they were pretty tight on our outside receivers. … The corner, who really I thought was supposed to have Javon Wims, really fell off. I saw the nickel falling off. Anthony took it a little lower than I wanted, but that’s just completely on me.
“I mean, there’s two throws I want back, right? The first interception that gave them a short field and obviously that one. I feel like that’s one I should probably check down.”
It stung. It was obvious. But so was Nagy’s fury. Some of his answers were too terse to view it otherwise.
The Bears rallied from a 17-0 deficit in the second half. But the offense still required help to do so. Daniel and Nagy acknowledged that reality, whether it was Raiders quarterback Derek Carr’s errant pitch for a turnover or Cohen’s 71-yard punt return.
The Bears offense needs to significantly improve after the bye week regardless of who is at quarterback. The film and numbers show it. They have one of the worst units in the NFL and this loss only furthered that point.
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“You put in a lot of work to be better, and we know where we’re at,” Nagy said. “It’s my job to make sure that it gets better. What’s the ‘how?’ What’s the ‘why?’ I believe wholeheartedly in all of our guys. But each person, every coach, every player, it’s time to start looking at themselves in the mirror and figuring why you’re out there or why we’re out there.”
That should be Nagy’s message to his offense for the bye week, too. The Bears need Trubisky to play better and with more confidence when he returns from his dislocated shoulder, but the entire offense — except for maybe Robinson — should feel the same pressure and dissatisfaction.
“You’ve got to sit on this for quite a while,” Daniel said. “It doesn’t make it feel good.”
If the Bears have to turn to Daniel against the Saints after the bye week, he did produce some good moments against the Raiders to draw from. He completed 22 of 30 passes for 231 yards and he threw two touchdowns to Robinson.
The Bears’ playmakers also finally made plays for their quarterback. It started with Miller’s leaping 32-yard reception over the back of safety Lamarcus Joyner in the third quarter.
Robinson later made a 16-yard touchdown catch over Conley off a double move for a 21-17 lead in the final minutes of the third quarter. He added a remarkable diving catch on a good throw from Daniel for a 32-yard gain on third-and-8 from the Bears’ 3-yard line.
“That felt good,” Daniel said.
Other throws didn’t. As Daniel said, he didn’t like his first interception to linebacker Nicholas Morrow in the second quarter. No one did. It was as if he didn’t see Morrow from behind his offensive line.
Daniel also was intercepted by cornerback Daryl Worley early in the fourth quarter. But it was negated by defensive tackle Maurice Hurst’s roughing-the-passer penalty, one that seemed like a gift from the referees.
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“Stuff like that happens,” Daniel said. “I felt like it was. It was called. So yeah, it was roughing the passer.”
But it still was a high, sailing throw that will be part of the evaluation of a rough day.
There were other reasons why the Bears lost in London. There were key penalties on Miller (unsportsmanlike conduct), left tackle Charles Leno Jr. (holding on the Bears’ first drive) and special-teamer Kevin Pierre-Louis (running into the kicker).
Oakland owned the trenches. The Bears’ defense was gashed for 169 rushing yards, while they produced 42. The Raiders had five sacks entering the game, and Daniel was sacked four times, including on the final play.
“I give credit to Oakland,” Nagy said. “They played hard. They played tough. And that’s what happens when you play tough football. You do it. You play tough football, you usually win football games.”
But Daniel still had his chance in the final two minutes with two timeouts remaining.
Every quarterback wants that.
“At the end of the day, when coach puts the ball in my hand, I expect to win the game,” Daniel said. “And we didn’t do that today.”
(Top photo: Steven Flynn / USA Today)