The Bears descended into ridicule Thursday night. Just as they were on the verge of an improbable comeback, they sank into nonsense.
Reminder of the facts: 2nd and 10 yards on Detroit's 25 yards with three points behind (23-20). 43 seconds left. A penalty cancels a reception and pushes Chicago back. 2nd and 20 from the 35 yards with 36 seconds on the clock. Caleb Williams drops back and gets sacked, putting his team out of field goal range.
Chicago still has a timeout. But Williams gets up, the attack gets back into place. The clock is ticking. Again. And again. There were 30 seconds left at the time of the sack. 20… 15… 10… There are finally 6 seconds left when the quarterback takes the snap. He throws a desperate pass. It's over.
Here's the full sequence for the end of Lions-Bears. I can't believe this happened…….. pic.twitter.com/dFMgDL2CE9
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 28, 2024
A disaster. But apparently everything went as planned.
“ We were out of field goal range. We needed a few yards to get as close as possible“, explained Matt Eberflus to the press after the match. “ And then we were going to call a timeout. That's why we kept the last one at the end of the match. »
And when the clock started ticking, it was apparently too late.
“ We loved the action we had. We were hoping he (Williams) was going to initiate the action. And then we would have directly called timeout.
Once it's under seven seconds, if you call a timeout, you're left with the option of throwing to the end zone.
“I like what we did. Again, under 7 seconds, and even under 12, you don't really have an option. […] I think we handled it the right way. I believe you initiate the action, throw down the field and call timeout. That's why we kept it. It didn't work out the way we wanted.. »
Matt Eberflus disowned by his players
Did the Bears “manage it the right way”? He didn't have to look far to hear another story.
“ We shit ourselves“, DJ Moore told Marquee Sports Network in the locker room. “I don’t know why we didn’t take a timeout. »
Fewer words, but already a better explanation.
