The Chicago Bears looked dead in the water during the first half of their Thanksgiving matchup against the rival Detroit Lions. They were outscored in the first two quarters, 16-0, and picked up just 53 total yards of offense compared to the Lions’ 279 yards. However, the script flipped in the second half.
Caleb Williams threw three touchdowns as the Bears outscored the Lions in the final two quarters, 20-7. In fact, they even put together an impressive drive down three points in the fourth quarter that looked like it could be a potential game-winning possession, but the Bears completely bungled their clock management at the end of the game. Let’s take a look at what happened on that drive:
Despite a perfect Lions punt that landed at the Bears’ 1-yard line, Williams took his offense into enemy territory while converting two third downs. Facing a fourth-and-4 at the Lions’ 44-yard line, Cole Kmet was penalized for offensive pass interference, which set up a fourth-and-14 at the Bears’ 46-yard line. Williams’ pass appeared to fall incomplete, but Lions defensive back Kindle Vildor was penalized for pass interference. It was a 29-yard penalty that set the Bears up with a first-and-10 on the Lions’ 25-yard line.
The Bears had to be feeling pretty good at that point. Down three points at the opponent’s 25-yard line with time running down. What could go wrong? As it turns out, a lot.
After an incomplete pass on first-and-10, Bears head coach Matt Eberflus used his second timeout with the clock already stopped. On second-and-10, Teven Jenkins was penalized for illegal use of hands. On the ensuing second-and-20 from the Lions’ 35-yard line, Williams took a sack for a loss of six yards with 33 seconds remaining. Here’s where things got crazy.
Eberflus had a timeout in his pocket, but didn’t want to use it just yet. The clock continued to drip as Williams struggled to get the play in while using no-huddle. There were about 33 seconds remaining when Williams was sacked, and when he finally got the ball off, it turned out it was the last play of the game. That pass fell incomplete.
You can understand why Eberflus wanted to keep that timeout for the NEXT play, but the offense wasn’t going fast enough for there to be a next play. Eberflus told reporters after the game the plan was to run a play with 18 seconds left on the clock and then call the timeout. That didn’t happen. The Bears should have used that last timeout after the sack, called a play to pick up five yards or so on the third-and-26, then run the special teams unit out and kick the game-tying field goal. There was enough time for that.
Afterwards, the NFL on CBS crew sounded off on the Bears, with Matt Ryan calling it a “massive, massive fail.”
“I think it’s just two times Matt Eberflus has froze at the end of a game,” Bill Cowher said. “33 seconds, you call timeout. You have a third down and 26, all you can do is run another play, get in field goal range and you have plenty of time to run your field goal team on to kick a field goal to go to overtime.”
Eberflus is already on the hot seat, and instances like Thursday aren’t going to help. You have the best team in the NFL on their heels in their own stadium in front of a national audience — and you run out the clock on yourself.
