In a season filled with gut-wrenching losses, including a Hail Mary defeat, none was more painful for the Chicago Bears than Thursday’s Thanksgiving loss to the Detroit Lions.
It led to some tough questioning for head coach Matt Eberflus after the game.
The Bears looked in prime shape to force overtime at worst with first-and-10 at the Detroit 25-yard line with 46 seconds and two timeouts remaining while trailing, 23-20. From there, the Bears lost 16 yards and ran just three plays.
Chicago got one play off after quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked with 32 seconds left on the game clock. It was a downfield pass that fell incomplete as time expired. Even if Rome Odunze had caught the ball, the Bears wouldn’t have had time to attempt a field goal. The game was over, and the Bears took a timeout with them to the losing locker room.
After the game, Eberflus was asked repeatedly to explain the final sequence and why the Bears didn’t use their final timeout. He told reporters that “I like what we did there” and that he was hoping to preserve the final timeout to set up a potential game-tying field goal after running the final play.
Eberflus was then asked why he didn’t call a timeout once the game clock ran under 10 seconds.
Eberflus was then asked what would he have done different in retrospect. That’s when he told reporters, “I think we handled it the right way.”
The Bears clearly didn’t handle it “the right way.” And because of it, during a season filled with game-deciding gaffes by his team, Eberflus was asked about his job security again.
“Im just gonna keep grinding and working, thats what I do,” Eberflus said.
What else is he going to say at this point?
The mood in the postgame locker room was understandably sullen. One reporter asked Eberflus about players saying that he didn’t offer his normal postgame address to the team. Eberflus denied that was the case and said he addressed the team as usual, calling it “the same operation.”
In the locker room, receiver DJ Moore addressed the late-game meltdown.
“We’ve got to find out a way to win,” Moore said. “We keep coming back in these games. And we have time to actually win the game and we just s*** the bed.”
As for why the Bears didn’t call a timeout on the final play? Moore doesn’t know.
“I don’t think we huddled,” Moore said. “We just got right back on the ball and ran a play. Like I said, I don’t know why we didn’t call a timeout.”
When asked why end-of-game situations keep going wrong for the Bears, cornerback Kyler Gordon didn’t want to talk about it.
“Next question,” Gordon said. “No comment.”
As for the end of Thursday’s game?
“I’m not gonna lie to you,” Gordon said. “I thought at least we were gonna kick a field goal. It is what it is. It happened.”
Eberflus was asked about players losing confidence in his leadership.
Weve got to pull together,” Ebeflus said in response. “Weve just gotta keep pulling together, keep believing in each other.
When asked about his responsibility in Chicago’s failed end-game execution, Eberflus took the blame.
It’s not the first time this season that Eberflus has had to address late-game failures. He’s running out of chances to explain himself.