CHICAGO (Ticker) -- The Chicago Bears made Bill Callahan's homecoming an unpleasant one.
The Bears overcame a 15-point halftime deficit and Paul Edinger booted a field goal on the final play of the game to give them their first win of the season, a 24-21 victory over the struggling Oakland Raiders.
A native of Chicago who also coached high school and college football there, Callahan watched his team carry an 18-3 lead into the third quarter. But the Bears, who had not held a lead all season, stormed back for 18 unanswered points, capped by fullback Stanley Pritchett's eight-yard run and Kordell Stewart's two-point conversion with seven minutes to go, giving Chicago a 21-18 advantage.
Oakland needed just 3 1/2 minutes to knot the game on Sebastian Janikowski's 49-yard field goal, but the Bears drove 43 yards in the final 3:25 before Edinger kicked a 48-yarder for the win.
Anthony Thomas gained 123 yards on 22 carries and Marty Booker had four catches for 94 yards for Chicago, which notched its first win at newly-renovated Soldier Field.
"We finally got some balls to bounce our way," Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher said. "We made some mistakes, as usual, but we covered them up and played hard. ... The fourth quarter was a lot of fun. It was exciting and the fans were behind us, and that's the way it should be around here."
Charlie Garner rushed 15 times for 92 yards and Janikowski booted five field goals for the Raiders, who fell to 6-5 vs. Chicago since 1972. but missed an extra point for the first time in his career.
"We had a substantial lead in the first half and a two-possession lead, and we came back in the second half and let it slip away," Callahan said. "The Bears were opportunistic when they had to be and obviously made some key plays. We turned the ball over on some critical junctures and it was very costly for our football team."
"You try and learn from it and after 24 hours, good or bad, you try and put it behind you and get ready for the next one," said Oakland defensive end Trace Armstrong, a former Bear. "The process will start for us on the plane."
After Oakland evened the contest at 21-21, cornerback Jerry Azumah returned Janikowski's kickoff to the Bears' 27. Stewart completed a 3rd-and-2 pass to tight end Dustin Lyman for five yards before gaining a yard on 4th-and-1 with 45 seconds left, keeping the drive alive.
Stewart then scampered 19 yards to the Raiders' 31 before being pushed out of bounds, but the play was called back on a holding penalty. Keeping his composure, Stewart connected with Dez White for 29 yards.
"They play a lot of man free, they challenge you a lot," Bears coach Dick Jauron said. "They feel like they have excellent cover guys, which they do. It's a double move on the outside and they executed it, and Kordell had the patience to wait for it to come up and threw a perfect ball."
Thomas gained a yard to the Oakland 30 before Edinger's game-winning kick.
"It felt good when I kicked it," Edinger said. "I never worry about the snap or the hold."
Coming off an overtime victory against San Diego, the Raiders took the opening kickoff and drove 68 yards to take the lead.
Fullback Zack Crockett completed a 16-play drive that saw Oakland convert three third downs, reaching the end zone from a yard out. Janikowski missed the first extra point of his career, leaving the Raiders with a 6-0 advantage.
Edinger got Chicago on the board with a 35-yarder early in the second quarter, but Janikowski reeled off four consecutive field goals before halftime to boost Oakland's lead to 18-3.
"It wasn't fun coming off the field at halftime," Urlacher admitted.
Cornerback Charles Woodson intercepted Stewart early in the third to halt a Chicago drive, but Janikowski had a 47-yard field goal attempt blocked by Phillip Daniels, keeping the Bears' deficit at 15.
"We work awfully hard on field goal blocks," Jauron said. "(Janikowski's) get-off time is extremely quick, maybe the quickest in the league, so we did not feel like we had any chance to block a kick off the edge. So our whole focus was on middle push and guys did a good job with it and got a hand up."
"We got the turnovers we wanted but just couldn't punch it in," Woodson said. "Give their defense credit for not allowing the momentum to swing that much by giving us touchdowns. They held us to field goals and kept themselves in the game."
On the next Oakland possession, defensive end Alex Brown picked off a pass by Rich Gannon at the Raiders' 18. But the Bears lost 14 yards and settled for a 50-yard kick by Edinger to draw within 18-6.
Stewart hit Booker for a 14-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter and Chicago took advantage of an interception by cornerback R.W. McQuarters, who picked off a pass by Gannon at the Bears' 12 and returned it to the Oakland 45, to take the lead.
After a 16-yard gain by Stewart, Thomas ran for 21 yards on two carries, putting the ball on the Raiders' 8. Pritchett took the next handoff and ran off the left guard for his fourth career touchdown, helping the Bears overcome their largest fourth-quarter deficit since making up 14 points against Cleveland on November 4, 2001.
"I think that we wore them down," Pritchett said. "That was our game plan, to run right at them, be physical with them, be physical the whole game."
"We converted some third downs and we gave ourselves the opportunity to kick some field goals and get some touchdowns," Stewart said. "We scored 21 points in the second half, and that's a lot of points."
Chicago linebacker Warrick Holdman suffered a sprained ankle in the second quarter and did not return.
