LANDOVER, Md. (670 The Score) – Bears head coach Matt Eberflus stood by the team’s play call of an ill-fated handoff at the goal line to offensive lineman Doug Kramer on Sunday, a play that resulted in a fumble in the team’s 18-15 loss to the Commanders at Northwest Stadium.
Trailing 12-7 with 6:21 remaining in the game, the Bears faced a third-and-goal play from the Commanders’ 1-yard line. In a play out of the I-formation, quarterback Caleb Williams attempted to hand it off to Kramer, who was lined up as a fullback, on what would have been his first career carry.
But Kramer was unable to corral the handoff, and Commanders defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton recovered the fumble, which was officially credited to Williams. An opportunity for the Bears to take their first lead of the game was lost on the controversial play-calling decision.
“It’s a play we’ve worked,” Eberflus said. “We’ve worked that play since (Kramer) has been in there. We’ve worked it, worked the mechanics of it, the handoff to him. We just got to do it better.
“It's a one-yard play. We felt that a big guy like that taking a dive could do that."
Kramer first stepped in as the Bears’ fullback in a win against the Rams on Sept. 29. But his involvement as a fullback in short-yardage situations had been exclusively as a blocker before the key play Sunday.
The Bears were comfortable enough with Kramer as their fullback that they released veteran fullback Khari Blasingame on Friday afternoon.
Williams made no excuses for the handoff mishap, saying he was comfortable with the play call.
“Comfort level (was) 100%,” Williams said. “It just didn’t go that way. We just got to execute, got to be better, got to protect the football.”
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.