Bears coach Matt Eberflus said he didn’t call Chicago’s last timeout in the final seconds of Thursday’s game because he was conserving it to set up a field goal attempt.
– With 36 seconds remaining, trailing by three points after putting together a furious second-half comeback, the Chicago Bears were in position to tie or defeat the Lions on Thanksgiving Day.
But late-game clock mismanagement assured the Bears would not get the chance to complete a come-from-behind victory against their division rival. As time ran out on Chicago to solidify a sixth consecutive loss in a 23-20 defeat, coach Matt Eberflus defended his decision for not calling a timeout in the final moments of the game.
„We’re at 36 seconds right there and our hope was, because it was third [down] going into fourth [down], that we would rerack that play at 18 seconds, throw it inbounds, get it in field goal range and then call a timeout“, Eberflus said.
Upon getting the ball back at Detroit’s 1-yard line with 3:31 to play, the Bears ran 13 plays before facing second-and-20 from the Lions‘ 35-yard line. Quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked for a 6-yard loss with 32 seconds remaining as Detroit defensive end Za’Darius Smith went untouched to bring the rookie down.
Instead of calling a timeout ahead of what became Chicago’s final play while facing third-and-26 from Detroit’s 41-yard line, the Bears let the clock wind down. About 10 seconds passed before Williams frantically alerted the offense to get lined up for a pass play, and the ball was not snapped until there were six seconds remaining.
Williams launched a deep ball to rookie wide receiver Rome Odunze that bounced off the turf inside the 5-yard line as time expired.
„I knew when we snapped the ball that the [clock] was going to run out, so I was trying to get to the end zone“, Odunze said „We just didn’t get a great coverage for it. Moving forward, I’ll know what I need to do to get there.“
When asked postgame how the Bears should have managed the final sequence in retrospect, Eberflus doubled down on the team’s late-game operation.
„I like what we did there“, Eberflus said. „Again, once it’s under seven [seconds], you’re going to call a timeout there — actually under 12 and then really you don’t have an option because it’s third to fourth, you have to throw it into the end zone then.
