DETROIT — Seconds tick down the same way. The measure of a second doesn’t change from clock to clock. “One-one-thousand,” we would say on the playground.
The clock might rush you, but a clock isn’t rushed. It read 0:32 when Caleb Williams got sacked on second down with the ball at the Detroit 41-yard line, and it kept going.
Thirty-two seconds with one timeout and the ball at the Detroit 41-yard line? That’s miraculous for a team on a losing streak that trailed 16-0, got two first downs in the first half, then trailed 23-13 in the fourth quarter.
Thirty-two seconds, clock is running. One-one-thousand, one-Mississippi. It’s all the same. Players are running, arms are waving frenetically, a game is up for grabs, a coach’s job is maybe in the balance.
As each second ticked down to zero, down to a sixth consecutive loss, the team’s fourth loss in six weeks on the final play, another baffling, astonishing way to lose a game, everyone was left wondering: What the heck happened? How did this happen?
“These are once-in-a-blue-moon type things,” wide receiver DJ Moore said.
A wild end to this one. #CHIvsDET pic.twitter.com/zwR7g1Efv9
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Players make their way back to the line of scrimmage. Plays are being called in. Seven seconds have come and gone. Twenty-five seconds left. Center Coleman Shelton waves his hands to get guys moving. Williams is beckoning his receivers back to the line.
“I was just trying to get on the ball as fast as I can,” Shelton said. “I heard the play call so I was trying to get up there and do what we do.”
The goal, head coach Matt Eberflus said, was to run a play with 18 seconds left on the clock, throw a pass inbounds, call a timeout and kick the game-tying field goal.
“We liked the play that we had and we were hoping that he was going to call it or get the ball snapped, and then we would’ve called timeout right there,” he said.
With 22 seconds left, Williams is waving his hands above his helmet, signaling the play to his teammates. Another second goes. Another one. We get to 18 seconds, and the offense isn’t lined up. Williams points to his left and does the same waving motion.
Now, suddenly, the offense’s inability to get set in enough time has changed the conditions. But the clock doesn’t stop unless they call a timeout. Another second or two goes.
“We just have to do a better job together,” Eberflus said about the team’s inability to get set for a snap at 18 seconds. “We have to do a better job together to re-rack that play, get it off and then call timeout once it’s inbounds there.”
Williams is in the shotgun with 13 seconds to go. Nearly 20 seconds have elapsed since the sack. That’s how long it took to get aligned, but not everyone is set. Eberflus motions his hand trying to will the snap.
He said once it got under 12 seconds, he wasn’t going to call a timeout. Then, the Bears wouldn’t have enough time to run an extra play to set up a field goal at that point. The Lions would defend the sidelines.
Williams saw the clock running. He made a change at the line.
“I made an adjustment and knew (Bears wide receiver) Rome (Odunze) was either going to be one-on-one or he was going to beat the safety and be one-on-one there, and I tried to give him a shot and we got the shot and missed,” he said.
The seconds on the clock are going at the same speed. It might feel faster in deafening Ford Field, as Lions fans with the Super Bowl on their minds are trying to help their defense. But the Bears weren’t rushed enough.
From 11 seconds to six seconds, everyone’s set. Five seconds come and go. One-one-thousand, two-one-thousand, down to the final snap. At this point, Williams knows it’s one play. So does Odunze.
“I knew when we snapped the ball that the (clock) was going to run out, so I was trying to get to the end zone,” he said. “We just didn’t get a great coverage for it. Moving forward, I’ll know what I need to do to get there.”
Odunze is at the Lions’ 6-yard line as the ball hits the turf in front of him. He had Lions corner Terrion Arnold draped over him and a safety coming to help. Even a completed pass might not have been a touchdown.
When the pass falls incomplete, it’s all zeros. Those 32 seconds have come and gone.
The Bears ran one play. They left the field with one timeout in their pocket.
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“You’re just like, ‘What the hell?’ Nah, it’s like, ‘What the bleep?’ but it is what it is,” Moore said. “It’s not ‘it is what it is,’ but we’ve got to find a way to win.”
Keenan Allen, who caught two touchdown passes in the loss, didn’t realize it was the final play at the moment.
“Once I seen the Detroit Lions walking on the field, I’m like, ‘Damn, (what) they doing? What’s going on?’” he said. “I didn’t realize the time had ran out. I’m like the time was running the whole time we didn’t … and then you look up and you realize we got a timeout. And it’s like, ‘Ah…,’ yeah.”
The Hail Mary. The blocked field goal. The loss in overtime. And now the Thanksgiving Day squandering of the clock. Another late-game situation completely mismanaged.
Eberflus should’ve called a timeout. Williams and the offense should’ve gotten set quicker. The entire group should’ve been ready for this moment and known how to handle it. There is no excuse for getting one play off in that situation, leaving the field with a timeout in hand and not giving your kicker an opportunity to tie the game.
Even if Williams erred at the onset by not getting the ball snapped with 18 seconds left, and even if their options would’ve been limited, Eberflus still should’ve and could’ve called a timeout.
If he calls it with 15 seconds left, they can run a quick slant. If it’s a first down, they clock it. If not, rush the field goal unit out there. Not ideal, but also better than what happened.
Or maybe they take two shots at the end zone. If he calls it with eight seconds left, they can at least discuss a final play, a more efficient pass to try and win it. He also could have called a timeout once Williams went down. Then they would still have the time to get a first down in the middle of the field and clock it or do the rushed field goal.
With everything that’s transpired, the calls for Eberflus’ job will only crescendo after a loss like this.
“I mean, this is the NFL and I know where it is, and I’m just going to put my best foot forward and I’ll get to work and keep grinding,” he said. “So, that’s what we do.”
Williams is a rookie. As much as the game has slowed down for him since Thomas Brown took over as play caller, the mental clock wasn’t moving fast enough late in the game as the real clock kept ticking. Williams’ outstanding second-half performance gave the Bears a chance. He’ll get better in those spots.
And he might have different coaches to better prepare him for those spots.
Each week, another jaw-dropping, new way to lose. This one included 32 seconds of agony for the Bears, leaving everyone confused and frustrated.
Tick, tick, tick, and the countdown is on to make the necessary changes to prevent the Bears from these losses.
(Top photo: Mike Mulholland / Getty Images)
