The Chicago Bears lost another heartbreaker, this time to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday at Soldier Field. The Bears suffered their second walk-off loss in four weeks, sandwiched in between were blowout losses to the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots.
The Bears team has been deflated since an 18-15 loss to the Washington Commanders in Week 8. The Commanders won a last-second hail mary pass from rookie quarter Jayden Daniels.
Head coach Matt Eberflus defended his decision not to defend an underneath route on the penultimate play of that game that allowed the Commanders to reach a better range to complete a Hail Mary. He said that play didn’t really matter.
A dumb decision by Matt Eberflus
Three weeks later, Eberflus made another dumb decision on the Bears’ final drive on offense. On second down, the Bears had an opportunity to run another play to get in closer field goal range for kicker Cairo Santos.
Instead, Eberflus opted to let the clock run to three seconds before taking a timeout, making his veteran kicker attempt a walk-off field goal from the Green Bay 28-yard line. Packers defensive tackle Karl Brooks blocked a kick that had a lower trajectory than it otherwise would have if Chicago had advanced the ball.
Following the game, Eberflus was asked about his decision not to advance the ball one more time before calling out Santos. The third-year head coach doubled down on the choice, saying he was afraid the offense would fumble the ball.
“[The Packers defense] were loading the box there. You could say you could [run another play] and get a couple more yards, but you risk fumbling, and different things there,” Eberflus said.
The Chicago Bears felt “good” about making Cairo Santos kick harder
Eberflus said the Bears felt good about where the ball was at for Santos’ final opportunity.
The decisions Eberflus had made leading up to the final play have cost the Bears two games after the bye. Chicago is now 4-6 on the season. The 14-30 head coach will now have to prepare the Bears to host the Minnesota Vikings in Week 12.
Bears players reportedly felt like they had the wind taken out of their sails after losing to Washington because of the last-second defeat. Chicago’s locker room could collapse before the Vikings game after another stupid decision by Eberflus’ staff not to trust his players.
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