(670 The Score) When the Bears lined up for a two-point conversion that would ultimately decide the outcome of their game against the Seahawks on Sunday, receiver Damiere Byrd was supposed to run a route toward the back corner of the end zone.
Byrd saw off the snap that he wouldn’t have a clean route to the corner, so he improvised, slipping between two Seahawks defenders and getting open in the back of the end zone. Quarterback Nick Foles found him with the football, and Byrd made a sensational catch for the two-point conversion that was the difference in Chicago's come-from-behind 25-24 win in Seattle.
“They actually played it perfectly,” Foles told reporters at Lumen Field. “The reason it worked was Byrd played backyard football and knew that they covered it well. If he wouldn’t have done his thing and just stopped and came back, we don’t win this game.
“I was really happy that he played some backyard football and ad-libbed right there.”
Prior to his team driving six plays and 80 yards for a touchdown that pulled the Bears within 24-23, coach Matt Nagy had decided he'd call for the two-point conversion if given the chance. Foles hit tight end Jimmy Graham for a 15-yard touchdown with 1:01 remaining, setting the stage for the two-point play.
Byrd hauled in the catch while nearly being carried out of bounds by Seahawks linebacker Jordyn Brooks and cornerback Sidney Jones.
“It was just one of those times where everything was kind of set in place,” Byrd said. “It just happened.”
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.