DETROIT (670 The Score) – Bears head coach Matt Eberflus stood by his approach in a disastrous final sequence in the team’s 23-20 loss to the Lions on Thursday in Detroit, one in which time expired on a game-ending incompletion after Eberflus wasted time by refusing to use Chicago’s final timeout.
With Detroit leading by three and Chicago facing second-and-20 with 36 seconds remaining, Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked at the Lions’ 41-yard line, pushing his team to the edge of field-goal range. Williams was taken to the ground with about 32 seconds left. Instead of using the Bears’ final timeout, Eberflus saved it, hoping to pick up a few more yards and then use it to set up a game-tying field-goal attempt.
But the Bears were disorganized and didn’t take the next snap – a third-and-26 situation – until six seconds remained, at which point Williams threw a deep pass downfield as the clock hit zeroes.
“Right there, we liked the play that we had and we were hoping that (Williams) was going to call it, get the ball snapped, and then we would’ve called timeout right there,” Eberflus said.
“I think we handled it the right way. I do believe that if you just rerack the play, get it in bounds and call a timeout, that’s why we held it. It didn’t work out the way we wanted it to.”
The Bears were back to the line of scrimmage with 16 seconds left, but Williams adjusted the play. He didn’t feel it was his place to call the final timeout, instead leaving that decision to Eberflus.
“I’m trying to make a play for the Chicago Bears,” Williams said.
After the game, Eberflus didn’t address the final sequence with the Bears inside the visiting locker room at Ford Field, though he did discuss it with reporters.
Before Eberflus spoke to the media, Bears veteran receiver Keenan Allen expressed his disbelief in how the final 36 seconds unfolded.
“I feel like we did enough as players to win the game,” said Allen, a 13-year NFL veteran who had two touchdowns in the loss.
“You got to talk to the people who control those things. I hear the play, line up and run the play. I don’t know.”
The Bears lost their sixth straight game to drop to 4-8. Eberflus is now 14-32 overall in his three seasons in Chicago, including 5-19 in one-score games.
Asked after the game whether he expects to keep his job for the final five games, Eberflus couldn’t answer with certainty.
“I’m just going to keep grinding and working,” he said. “That’s what I do.”
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.