(670 The Score) Bears head coach Matt Eberflus on Monday doubled down on his decision to settle for a 46-yard field-goal attempt that would’ve won the game against the Packers on Sunday rather than electing to try to pick up more yardage for an easier look in the final minute.
Bears kicker Cairo Santos’ 46-yard field-goal attempt was blocked by Packers defensive lineman Karl Brooks, in large part due to the low trajectory of the kick. The Bears ran their final play on offense with 35 seconds left, then allowed the clock to tick down to three seconds before calling their final timeout in a 20-19 loss at Soldier Field.
“The obvious risks are they stem or whatever and you false start, you go backwards,” Eberflus said. “You look at all that. You run an outside play and they call holding. You throw a pass and it gets tipped. Whatever it is, you feel good about your decision there, the wind conditions, what the conditions are at that point and where you are on the field, you feel good about it, you take (the clock) down and you kick it. And we felt good about it.
“Where the conditions were and where we were in the game, I would say, ‘Yeah,’ I would do the same.' I mean, would you like to be closer? Yeah, you would like to be at the 15-yard line. But it is where it is. And you could’ve done a lot of things there. You could’ve run a pass, you could’ve run an outside play, you could’ve run another play that we punched it there forward for two yards from the 30 to the 28. Again, if that things breaks for a few more yards, it’s definitely a positive. But that’s where it is.”
The Bears will send the final play in to the NFL for review of whether the Packers made illegal contact with long snapper Scott Daly, Eberflus said.
The Bears (4-6) will host the Vikings (8-2) on Sunday at Soldier Field.