OK, the answer is obviously no. But, in my defense, I at least have played enough Madden to know when to call a timeout to stop the clock. Or heck, maybe even spiking it to stop the clock if saving a timeout was the goal? So then the obvious question then becomes: WHY ON GOD’S GREEN EARTH DID THE CHICAGO BEARS AND QB CALEB WILLIAMS NOT DO THAT? On what was an incredible second half comeback by the Chicago Bears against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day, it was completely ruined by a mistake that no one can believe actually happened. Like literally, I don’t believe any professional analyst or armchair NFL coach such as myself and thousands upon thousands of others could believe it either. What turned out to be an absolute great game instead of a snoozer (rigged or not is not the point here) was ruined at what could have been.

So, with the Bears down by 3 points, they had to drive literally 99 yards for a touchdown for the win or 60-70ish yards for a game tying field goal. As the drive continued, it seemed as if a touchdown was not possible. OK, cool, settle for the long field goal in hopes of going overtime. But instead, QB Caleb Williams took a sack on third down with about 32 seconds left on the clock with ONE timeout remaining. Prior to that, an illegal pick by the TE forced them to a 4th and 14. However, on the next play, the Lions committed a pass interference that gave the Bears a new set of down and placed them at the Lions 25-yard line. This is within FG range. They then got penalized for a hand to face by an offensive lineman, which moved them back to the 35-yard line. It is now 2nd and 20. It is on the next play that Williams got sacked with 33 seconds remaining. It is now 3rd and 26. Here is where the stupidity ensued. Instead of clocking the ball or calling a timeout to stop the clock, they decided to continue. All the Bears players had to rush back to formation as Williams was telling everyone to hurry the fuck up. OKAY, so they finally got back to formation and the clock is now at around 12 or 11 seconds. However, he still does NOT snap the ball. Instead, he snaps it at around the six seconds mark, Williams chucks the ball to the receiver, it was incomplete, and the game was over. I mean, maybe they were hoping for another defensive pass interference?

You literally have to watch the game unfold in real time to see how crazy this was. If the Bears thought they could catch the Lions off guard, that obviously had a low chance of succeeding, as they took their sweet ass time prior to hiking the ball. If they wanted to save the timeout, they could have spiked the ball. At that point, they can decide to pick up the first down but at 26 yards, that’s highly unlikely? They could chuck a Hail Mary into the end zone, which is also a low percentage throw, but crazier shit has happened. Jayden Daniels would agree. Or, they could just, you know, trust in their kicker and go for the game tying field goal. Yes, the ball was a few yards away from the target line making it technically out of range and the kicker had one of his kicks blocked in the last game, but that was then, this is NOW. His one fucking job is to kick the fucking ball between and through the goal post. Let him do the job you all paid him to fucking perform! It was what, mid 50+ ish yards? Isn’t that like the new upper limit of ALL kickers nowadays by default? All I hear in sports you just have to put yourselves in a position that gives you a chance to win. But of course, that makes too much sense. Oh, no. It had to be more complicated than that. Right? I mean, if they had no confidence in the range of the kicker, why not run a simple play to get an easy 5–7 yards at the least and more if luck was on their side? Call the final time out and kick it. Hell, they could have just ran the damn ball or a simple screen to hopefully get 2 – 3 yards, call timeout and pray for the FG.

So here is the Bears coach trying to explain what happened:

So, he did say that they were supposed to go for a few more yards, call timeout and kick the field goal. GREAT. So then why the fuck didn’t that happen?! All that talk and I still don’t understand. I’m sure he was so dreading that conference, knowing that he was going to get grilled for it. He tried to protect his players, especially his QB, as best he could by not directly throwing him/them under the bus, but at this point, I think many can see that the coach needed to take charge and do what needed to be done. Caleb Williams, although a Heisman trophy winner, is a rookie coming in to the NFL. Yes, that means his first year as a pro. Both I believe are at fault but of course, more blame goes to the coach for not preparing the players. I mean, come on, though. 33 fucking seconds. They didn’t snap it until 6. What was Caleb really thinking for those 27 seconds to have believed that a timeout wasn’t necessary? It actually looks as if he had only decided to hurry up the players around the 24-23 second mark! But of course, everyone would obviously be talking differently had he actually thrown the TD.

Is this one of those cases where the star player on a team believes he knows better than the coach or that the respect just isn’t there? Being that this is Caleb’s first frigging year in the NFL, that’s possible but highly unlikely? Is this a case where the coach wanted his star player to just “figure it out” on the field? I mean, maybe? But around the 20 – 18 second mark or so, he should have realized his QB was confused and should have taken over by calling the timeout? If his player throws a tantrum, so be it? I mean, you are the coach? Not just any coach, but the head coach at that. I’m sure what should happen on paper vs reality is wildly different so what do I know. What I do know is that I trust my Madden experience and my Madden instinct would have told me to do something, anything, other than what happened here. 😂 😂 😂