The Chicago Bears fell one completion shy of what would have been a monumental road victory against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, December 28.
Chicago had roughly 2.5 yards to the goal line with four seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, trailing the home team by a score of 42-38. Quarterback Caleb Williams had a shot to dump the football to running back D’Andre Swift in the left flat and let him go 1-on-1 with a 49ers defensive back to decide the game.
Instead, Williams bailed on that idea and scrambled into the area Swift vacated after the QB decided not to throw the pass to his running back. San Francisco generated some pressure, and Williams threw the football to wide receiver Luther Burden III in the end zone while falling backwards. Williams short-armed the pass, which hit the ground and ended the game.
Bears head coach Ben Johnson took the podium following the defeat and assigned blame for the failure of the final play after what was otherwise a mostly masterful game for the entire offensive unit.
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“We didn’t quite get aligned in the formation we wanted to,” Johnson said. “It’s on me. I didn’t give [Williams] the call fast enough, so he’s trying to piecemeal it together. I gotta do a better job on that.”
Ben Solak of ESPN had a different take on the Bears’ late-game missteps, pinning what he considered the biggest mistake of the drive on Swift. However, Solak’s issue with the running back didn’t stem from the final play, but rather the hook-and-ladder sequence that Johnson called one down earlier.
“Watching the last drive back. Gotta wonder if Swift thinks the Bears still have a timeout on the hook and ladder,” Solak wrote. “If he beelines to the sideline he’s out at, what, the…[7-yard line]? With 14 seconds left? First down matters WAY less than time on clock at this stage. Ends up a huge execution error.”
Regardless, Chicago got just a little too tight and lost another close road game due to bad decisions down the stretch.
The other most recent such incident came on December 7 at Lambeau Field, when the Bears were down seven points to the Green Bay Packers and operating inside the red zone. Williams tossed an interception into the end zone, and Chicago went on to lose the contest by a touchdown.
The Bears host the Detroit Lions at Soldier Field next Sunday. Should Chicago win, or should the Philadelphia Eagles lose to the Washington Commanders, the Bears will earn the No. 2 seed in the NFL playoffs and host the seventh-seeded Packers in Chicago over Super Wildcard Weekend approximately two weeks from today.
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