Time’s up: Bears bungle final seconds of loss to Lions

DETROIT – Detroit Lions edge rusher Za’Darius Smith ran in unblocked and sacked Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. The play ended with 32 seconds on the clock.

What ensued was chaos.

The result was this: The Bears ran out of time. The Bears ran one play – Williams threw a deep ball for receiver Rome Odunze that fell incomplete – as time expired. They left their final timeout unused and they earned their sixth consecutive loss in another heartbreaker, 23-20, at the hands of the Lions on Thanksgiving Day.

Fans and NFL analysts alike ripped head coach Matt Eberflus online for his decision not to use the timeout. In the chaos of those 32 seconds, he could’ve used a timeout either at the start of the play or during the confusion at the line of scrimmage. The rookie quarterback changed the play as time was winding down. Changing the play ate several more seconds.

“So right there, we liked the play that we had and we were hoping that [Williams] was going to call it, or get the ball snapped and then we would’ve called timeout right there [after the play],” Eberflus said after the game.

Williams later explained that the original play call with 32 seconds left was a quarterback draw. Williams was going to keep the football and run right with the right tackle to try and set up a closer field goal from the right hash mark.

By the time the Bears were set at the line of scrimmage there was about 13 seconds on the clock. When Williams saw the clock winding down, he didn’t think the Bears would have enough time to run two plays. He changed the play call and launched a pass intended for Odunze in the end zone.

The Bears snapped the ball with about six seconds on the clock.

“With that situation, 13 seconds, make a call and try to get it snapped and take the shot,” Williams said.

Eberflus defended the decisions made in the frantic final seconds.

“To me it’s – I think we handled it the right way,” Eberflus said. “I do believe that you just re-rack the play, get it inbounds and call timeout and that’s why we held it and [it] didn’t work out the way we wanted it to.”

If the Bears had called a timeout in the waning seconds, a field goal try from that distance – the Lions’ 41-yard line – would’ve been about 58 yards. For kicker Cairo Santos that would’ve been a career long, but nonetheless he was ready on the sideline.

“[I] didn’t see that happening,” Santos said. “We rehearse these scenarios and I imagine myself kicking that. I know we want to play for the win. But I was kind of imagining myself at least getting a shot there, but I don’t know what was communicated between the offense.”

Santos declined to say what his maximum distance was on Thursday playing inside at Ford Field. But he did say he was kicking really well throughout the day.

“I missed one kick [during warm ups] at halftime, but besides that all day I made every single kick,” Santos said. “Felt great.”

Williams had used a timeout at his own discretion earlier on the same possession. The rookie explained that in the final seconds, he was going to leave a big decision like that up to the coaches.

“Whatever that situation is, that’s going to be coach’s call,” Williams said. “Maybe in the later years of my career, but right now I get the [play] call, I’m trying to lead the guys to win and I’m trying to get everybody lined up, and from there I’m trying to make a play for the Chicago Bears.”

This is the second time in three weeks that Eberflus let roughly 30 seconds run off the clock at the end of the fourth quarter. Two weeks ago against Green Bay, he declined to try and pick up a few extra yards for his kicker. Santos had a 46-yard field goal try blocked by the Packers as time expired. It was their 11th straight loss against Green Bay.

This time, as confusion reigned in Detroit, the head coach watched the clock tick down toward zero.

Asked pointedly if he was concerned about his job security after another late-game debacle, Eberflus said: “I mean this is the NFL and I know where it is and I’m just going to put my best foot forward and I’ll get to work and keep grinding. So, that’s what we do.”