Final Score: Lions 23 Bears 20
Chicago dropped its 6th game in a row this week, this time with the whole country watching. On Thanksgiving day, fans were treated to an exciting Caleb-Williams-fueled second half comeback, unfortunately capped off by another egregious late-game snafu by Bears head coach Matt Eberflus. Eberflus would be relieved of his duties the following day, putting an end to his short-lived tenure in Chicago.
Glaring Issues
Matt Eberflus
Directly following this matchup, the glaring issue was simply ‘Matt Eberflus’. Trailing by 3 with only seconds remaining, the offense ran out of time to get off a game-tying field goal attempt- which sounds normal. The only issue: Chicago still had a timeout in hand. Critics can debate whether the blame falls upon Eberflus or the quarterback, and the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. However, the head coach of the football team has to step in and make that move when he realizes that the rookie quarterback may be making an error.
This was far from the first time that Eberflus has made a catastrophic mistake late in a close game. Thursday afternoon brought up shades of the Washington hail mary game and the heartbreaker against the Packers just a few weeks back. The players feel as though a loss is inevitable with Flus making the decisions and a change was necessary.
Slow Starts on Offense
As usual, the offense started of extremely slow. Kicking off the game with 3 straight 3-and-outs, it wasn’t until there was 55 seconds remaining in the first half that it generated a first down. This has been a trend all season long. It’s difficult to win games when you are consistently playing from behind.
Bright Spots
Chicago Continues to Keep Tough Games Close
Although the Bears are 0-3 against division foes so far this year, they could easily be 3-0. As underdogs against the currently 12-1 Lions, 10-2 Vikings, and 9-4 Packers, Chicago lost these three matchups by a combined 7 points. The players are showing real promise. With a component head coach leading them and making savvy in-game decisions, the Bears could have easily won two or three of these games. Even without that needed new voice, they’ve still nearly found a way to win against strong playoff teams. This is an encouraging sign for next season!
Standout Performers
Caleb Williams
Though the first half left much to be desired, Williams and the offense shifted gears in the second half. Against a Detroit defense that had only allowed 7 passing touchdowns all year, Caleb slung 3 in just one half. He is blossoming into a phenomenal quarterback before our eyes. With newly-appointed head coach Thomas Brown calling plays, Williams has begun to looks more like his USC-self. He uses his legs (39 rushing yards against Detroit) and creates off-script passes. He definitely continued his upward trajectory this week.
Keenan Allen
Wide receiver Keenan Allen had another big week last Thursday. He reeled in 5 catches for 73 yards and added 2 integral touchdowns. This marked Allen’s second multi-touchdown game of the season and second game in a row finding the end zone.
Key Drive of the Game
Though the Bears didn’t pull it out in the end, an extremely important drive in this game was the defense forcing Jared Goff and the daunted Lions offense off of the field in only 2 minutes and 5 seconds of game time, late in the 4th quarter. Chicago had just punched in a touchdown to cut the deficit to 3 points. This 3-and-out handed the ball back to Caleb Williams with 3:42 remaining. With all 3 timeouts in hand and only a field goal required to send the game to overtime, the offense had more than enough time to do what it needed to do.