The Chicago Bears just keep finding new and even more maddening ways to lose.
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Having already been on the wrong end of a blocked field goal against the Packers and 52-yard Hail Mary touchdown against the Commanders, you would have thought that surely by now this team and this coaching staff would have learned from past mistakes and improved its late game execution.
Unfortunately, this final play was the most damning of them all.
The Bears looked on the verge of somehow sending Friday’s game against the Detroit Lions to overtime despite trailing 16-0 at halftime.
They were lucky not to be down by more at that point, with Detroit recording 18 first downs to just 2 for Chicago and outgaining the Bears in total yards 279 to 53.
But the Bears, led by rookie quarterback Caleb Williams and experienced wide receiver duo Keenan Allen and DJ Moore, fought back to give themselves a chance.
Chicago trailed 23-20 entering the final minute of the game and was backed up on its own one-yard line after a perfectly placed punt by Jack Fox.
A 25-yard gain for Moore on 3rd-and-7 helped keep the game alive before a D’Andre Swift 12-yard carry on 3rd-and-1 again kept the chains moving for Chicago.
A big completion to Moore on 4th-and-4 later looked to have put the Bears in field goal range, only for it to be brought back for pass interference, although the Lions defence were then penalised on the following play to keep the drive alive once again.
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It had the Bears at the Lions’ 25-yard line and not only in field goal range but with a chance to take a few shots to the end zone too for the potential game-winning touchdown.
An incompletion and penalty for illegal use of the hands backed the Bears up to the Detroit 35 but Chicago was still in field goal range, albeit now settling for a longer attempt.
Either way, with one timeout still up their sleeve, the Bears had a chance to send it to overtime.
But a pair of disastrous mistakes saw Chicago throw away the game in mind-boggling fashion.
First Williams, who for all his undeniable talent has taken game-breaking sacks as was the case the week prior in overtime against Minnesota, was brought down on 2nd-and-20.
It was a run-pass option quarterback draw though, so really the sack was a product of a strange play call for that moment of the game.
It wasn’t catastrophic though as the Bears still had a timeout and could have either used that or spiked the ball to give themselves one final shot to tie the game with the field goal.
Instead, inexplicably Williams dropped back to pass, seemingly unaware of how little time was left on the game clock, and took a deep shot for rookie receiver Rome Odunze that fell incomplete.
“This is a disaster in the making… completely botched at the end by the Bears,” play-by-play commentator Jim Nantz said.
“They’re looking around like what just happened.”
“I can’t believe they didn’t take a timeout,” Tony Romo added.
“I just assumed they would have taken it.”
It was another learning experience for Williams, who the Bears took first overall, but another red strike against Matt Eberflus, who was already on the hot seat as the head coach of a Chicago team that has failed to live up to expectations this season.
Speaking after the game, CHGO reporter Adam Hoge said the Bears were an “unserious organisation” if Eberflus was not fired.
“If you’re the head coach, there is absolutely no way that football game can end with a loss with you still having a timeout in your pocket,” Hoge said.
“It just can’t … You’re not prepared for the moment. You freeze every single time. They should take Matt Eberflus and remove him from the field at the two-minute warning of every game and they would have a better chance of winning.
“I don’t know what else to say at this point, because I can’t lie to you guys — there’s nothing left to protect here. He is a horrible situational head coach at the end of these games.
“Blame the rookie QB — there’s certainly blame to go around there — (but) you’re the coach of the rookie QB! You should know that! You have to protect him; the same thing happened last week … it’s ridiculous.
“He (Eberflus) cannot be your head coach tomorrow morning. You are an unserious organisation if you do not make a move tomorrow.”
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