When the Bears looked lifeless in the first half of their Thanksgiving game at Chicago, I made a mental note to post something after the game on whether the Bears would fire their head coach during the season for the first time in franchise history.
As the Bears snapped out of it in the second half, I deleted the mental note.
Then came the ending. With 46 seconds to play, the Bears had the ball, first and 10 from the Detroit 25. The Lions led, 23-20.
And Chicago ran out of time. With a timeout still in hand.
It was the ultimate NFL WTF moment.
Fast forward to second and 20 from the Detroit 35. The Bears were down by three, with one timeout in hand. Detroit sacked quarterback Caleb Williams, knocking Chicago back to the Detroit 41.
More than 30 seconds remained at the time of the sack.
The approach was simple, or it should have been. Run a play aimed at making the field goal shorter than 59 yards, call timeout, kick the field goal that, if good, would send the game to overtime.
But something happened. More importantly, nothing happened. The Bears didn’t hurry to the line. They didn’t get a play called with time to gain yardage and call timeout. Instead, Caleb Williams started the play with six seconds left. By the time his throw landed incomplete inside the five, the game was over.
It’s inexcusable. It’s a fireable offense. And it’s the third loss this year that falls directly onto the coaching staff.
One, the Hail Mary disaster in Washington. Two, the blocked field goal against the Packers. Three, today.
Will that be enough to get the Bears to fire Eberflus? His fate seems to be sealed after the season ends. The question is whether they’ll do it as soon as tomorrow.
If they do, the Bears will be making the wrong kind of history — even if it might be the right thing to do.
