Instead of Thanksgiving, it is Groundhog Day in the Windy City. The Bears burnt the turkey and found another way to lose a heartbreaker.
The 11-1 Detroit Lions had not been victorious in a Thanksgiving matinee game since back in 2016. The Lions’ fans were on the edge of their seats and had to nervously sweat out snapping that streak.
They can thank their lucky stars that the Chicago Bears had a game-management blunder of the highest order on Thursday.
The Bears, who had a timeout left in their back pocket, and inexplicably let the clock run down to the final seconds after a sack of quarterback Caleb Williams, trailing by a field goal 23-20. It ran down too far, and Williams threw an incomplete pass on the final play. And just like that, the game was over ladies and gentlemen.
“I’m focused on getting everyone back and getting everyone lined up,” Williams said. “I don’t have a microphone, so there is no communication with coach there. We could have taken a timeout, but if we hit that play, no one would be worried about it.”
The Lions survived, pulling out the 23-20 win. A controversial defensive pass interference penalty downfield on a fourth-and-14 desperation pass gave the Bears a new lease on life and a first down well within the field-goal range of kicker Cairo Santos. However, the drive was pushed back due to a penalty and then the Bears mismanaged the clock as poorly as you will ever see in the NFL and professional sports.
“It was a crazy ending, right?” Lions quarterback Jared Goff asked.
It is almost impossible to be on your game and be sharp every single half of a 18-week NFL season, and for the overwhelming majority of this season the Lions have been the cream of the crop. The Lions’ second half performance was shaky at best, but at least they do not have to endure yet another Thanksgiving loss. After how they took it to the Bears in the first half, it would have been a severe letdown. As is, another win and an 11-1 record is just fine as they go after the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.
For Chicago, it will be a long 10 days for coach Matt Eberflus, who is on the hottest seat possible and could be getting his walking papers, after the way the Bears choked at the end of the game.
“We’re right there,” he said.
The Bears have shown significant improvement in the last few weeks since they have changed offensive coordinator. They were a blocked field goal away from beating their arch rival Green Bay Packers and took the Minnesota Vikings to overtime. The Bears were 4-7 coming in but have not been a complete disaster of late.
The Lions made the Bears look like a junior varsity team in the first 30 minutes of the contest.
In the opening quarter, the Lions outgained the Bears 214-11 and had 15 first downs, an outrageous amount in a quarter of football, to zero for the Bears. Detroit scored on the first play of the second quarter, with a touchdown pass from Goff to tight end Sam LaPorta to take a 10-0 lead.
“We started off pretty hot offensively and defensively,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said.
The Lions’ offense has been explosive all season, and the defense has made major strides to match it under coordinator Aaron Glenn. The Bears’ first three possessions all ended in a three-and-out. They did not get a first down until 51 seconds were left in the first half.
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The Bears have had some horrific games on the offensive side of the ball this season, but Thursday’s first half seemed to be more about the Lions defense dominating them. The Bears had a grand total of 53 yards in the first half. The Lions had 279. It seemed like Detroit would blow them out of the water.
But give the Bears players credit. The game flipped on its head in the second half.
The Lions were clearly the better team in the first half but some red-zone mistakes and a Jahmyr Gibbs fumble deep in Bears territory kept the score to a manageable 16-0 for Chicago at halftime. Right after the half, Williams went right to work, hitting six-time Pro Bowler Keenan Allen for a touchdown and the Bears cut their deficit to nine, 16-7. The Lions came right back. Aided by a questionable horse-collar penalty call on a third-down stop, the Lions went downfield and LaPorta got his second touchdown.
But the Bears showed fight and kept hanging around. Williams exhaled, found his composure and made plays. The Lions offense did not move up and down the field as freely, and a missed field goal in the fourth quarter by Detroit kept the door open for a comeback. Williams completed a nice pass to D.J. Moore for a 31-yard touchdown with 5:36 left, and despite an embarrassing first half the Bears were within three.
The Bears forced a punt but Detroit had good coverage and downed it at the 1-yard line. Williams kept the Bears’ hopes alive with a 25-yard pass to Moore on third down. Chicago moved it to the 50 at the two-minute warning. A sack set the Bears’ drive back, and they faced a fourth-and-4 just outside of field-goal range at Detroit’s 44-yard line. There was an offensive pass interference call that negated a Moore catch for a first down, and then Williams threw it deep on fourth-and-14. Lions’ cornerback Kindle Vildor was hand-fighting with Moore and officials called the penalty. That gave the Bears a fighting chance.
The drive broke down after that, with a costly sack and a penalty pushing them back. Williams was sacked with 30 seconds left and it took entirely too long to get the play in and run it. Williams finally cracked and showed his inexperience and looked like a rookie trying to get the team organized. The snap came with about six seconds left and he held it too long before throwing it downfield.
Even though it will go down as a win for the Lions, it felt more like the Bears blowing it at the end.
The Bears are on the road at San Francisco taking on the 49ers on December 8.
The Lions host Jordan Love and the Green Bay next Thursday night.
