Thanksgiving for the Bears fans could have been way different if not for in-game mismanagement. Chasing the game from a 16-0 deficit in the second half, the Bears had little hope of salvaging any result from Detroit. But three TDs from Caleb Williams passes helped the Bears close the gap to 3 points going into the final 5 minutes.

Riding high on confidence, it looked like the Bears were finally on their way to snap their five-game losing streak. However, a late-game sequence with Williams undermining his coach failed to bring them any joy on Thursday.

Well, the Bears were doing everything right on their final drive in Detroit. Williams had led them to Detroit’s 25-yard line, thereby putting their kicker, Cairo Santos, within an ideal field goal range. This could have forced overtime, but that’s when things started to fall apart. Game officials calling for a holding penalty against their offensive lineman Tevan Jenkins drifted the Bears back into the 35-yard line.

And then Williams was sacked for a loss of six on second down with only 30 seconds left to play. That’s when things got interesting, as the Bears had the opportunity to call for a timeout. But they didn’t do so. Instead, Williams threw a frantic pass to Rome Odunze that wasn’t even close to completion. As the clock ran out, the Bears were contemplating a botched final play in Detroit. This led to the Patriots coach Jerod Mayo sharing his thoughts on the Bears’ final play, “I probably would’ve handled it a little bit differently.” 

Although we don’t know what Mayo would have done differently, he did take a subtle dig at Matt Eberflus’ play-calling. Well, Eberflus himself spoke about the lack of proper decision-making that took place in the final quarter, “That’s where it was, and that was our decision-making process on that. Again, we were outside the field goal range, so we needed to get a few more yards in that, as close as we can get. And then we were going to call a timeout, and that’s why we held that last timeout.” 

This means Eberflus was thinking of a timeout that could have taken the game into overtime. However, their rookie QB Caleb Williams had other plans as he altered the play in those final seconds.

Caleb Williams undermining Matt Eberflus subjected the Bears to a heartbreaking loss

While questions will be raised about Eberflus’ offensive play-calling, it was Williams’ post-game thoughts that caught everyone’s attention. He came out saying how he adjusted the play in those dying moments, “I ended up changing the play. Because with the play we had, 13 seconds any play you have with 13 seconds with no time. Well, we had a timeout, but with that situation, 13 seconds, make a call and try and get it snapped and take a shot.” 

But that pass went sailing above the head of Rome Odunze, “So, I made an adjustment and knew Rome was either going to be one-on-one there. Tried to give him a shot, we got the shot and missed.” 

Although Williams could be blamed for changing the play that resulted in their loss in Detroit, it wouldn’t even come this close if not for their No.1 overall pick’s display yesterday. He completed 20-of-39 passes for 256 yards with three TDs all coming in the second half. Well, Williams didn’t even turn the ball over while getting sacked 5 times. And that wasn’t all, as the Bears QB was hit 10 times by the Lions’ defense.

Taking nothing away from them, the Bears did manage to show up. However, it didn’t bear any positive results, as their season is almost over with this loss in Detroit.