Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The music from Club Dub was thumping through the walls of the Chicago Bears locker room Sunday evening as running back Damien Williams stepped to the lectern to address media members.

“Man, my blood is still going,” Williams said. “I feel like I did more in the locker room than I did on the field. All the dancing we were doing. It was a great team victory.”

Williams and rookie Khalil Herbert played a big part in the Bears being able to celebrate the 20-9 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders with the thousands of Bears fans who traveled to Allegiant Stadium.

With running back David Montgomery out with a knee injury, Williams — in his first season with the Bears after opting out in 2020 because of COVID-19 — stepped in to total 16 carries for 64 yards and a touchdown. Herbert, a sixth-round pick, led the way with 18 carries for 75 yards.

The Bears took advantage of the Raiders’ struggling run defense to help make life easier for rookie quarterback Justin Fields, who toughed it out through a hyperextended knee to complete 12 of 20 passes for 111 yards and a touchdown.

Bears coach Matt Nagy spread the praise for the ground game from the offensive line and tight ends to Williams and Herbert.

“I know D-MO is at home now watching this and he’s proud,” Nagy said. “He’s proud because he mentors these guys. For Damien Williams to step up and have 16 carries. For Khalil Herbert to come in as a rookie and run the ball like he did. That’s impressive. (Running backs coach) Michael Pitre is coaching the heck out of these guys. When you have that running game, it certainly makes things a lot easier in a lot of different ways.”

On his 4-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, Williams cut to his left outside a block by wide receiver Darnell Mooney and then spun away from Raiders cornerback Amik Robertson into the end zone.

Williams said he knew if he bounced outside he would have a one-on-one opportunity against the cornerback, and he capitalized for his second touchdown this season to give the Bears a 14-3 lead with 1 minute, 56 seconds to play in the second quarter.

“When I saw that, I just stood there and I was like, ‘Yo, that was crazy,'” Fields said. “I wish I could do that.”

A couple of hours later, Montgomery, who is on injured reserve with a knee sprain, tweeted his excitement, asking the Bears to “turn (C)lub (D)ub up for me.”

“When you have a guy like David who is a run-hard kind of guy and he’s going to get those hard yards, that’s what everyone is expecting,” Williams said. “And me being who I am, that’s how I carry myself as well. We are going to go in here and get these hard yards and keep going. And (Herbert) had that same mentality.”

Meanwhile, Fields turned in a gutsy performance, playing all but a few plays despite hyperextending his left knee in the second quarter.

He had the wind knocked out of him in the first quarter, and on the next drive he threw his first career touchdown pass. Williams had an 18-yard catch and a 14-yard run and Herbert had an 11-yard run on the drive, which was helped by three Raiders penalties, the last of which got the Bears to the 2-yard line.

As Fields rolled to his right, tight end Jesper Horsted made eye contact. With Robertson covering Horsted with his back turned, Fields threw a perfect ball at Horsted’s shoulder where he could catch it without Robertson’s interference.

“When you’re in that moment, you can’t think about what’s hurting,” Fields said. “You just think about executing that play. Jesper was kind of open in the back of the end zone and the DB had his back turned. So of course I knew he couldn’t see the ball. I just threw it up and gave Jesper a chance. He came down with it.”

On the next drive, Fields hyperextended his left knee while being taken down on a sack.

He left the game and went into the medical tent while Andy Dalton took over at quarterback. But Fields quickly emerged, began running on the sideline and reentered the game three plays later.

Fields helped keep the drive alive by hitting Allen Robinson with a 12-yard pass on third-and-7. Williams scored four plays later.

“That son of a buck is tough,” Nagy said of Fields. “He is tough. He’s proven that when he was in college. He proved it out here.”

As the Bears pulled away in the fourth quarter, Fields threw a 13-yard laser to Darnell Mooney on third-and-12 and found Cole Kmet with a 14-yard pass one play later. That drive ended in the first of Cairo Santos’ two 46-yard field goals.

Fields said he will focus on strengthening the knee this week as he prepares for the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field. It felt good enough postgame to join Williams and his teammates in the Club Dub festivities.

“I’m dancing in there,” Fields said. “Y’all might see a video later in the year.”

And if the Bears can continue the success with the run game, that might mean more dancing in the future.

“It gets our offense going,” Fields said. “It gets our O-line confidence that we’re moving those guys up front. If we can get the running game going like that every week, it’s definitely going to open the offense up.”

Sign up for alerts on your phone, desktop and inbox to stay current with the latest news

Sign up for our sports newsletter, delivered daily each morning