-
Courtney Cronin, ESPN Staff Writer
CHICAGO — One month after clock-management problems against the Detroit Lions led to the firing of coach Matt Eberflus, the Chicago Bears sealed their 10th straight loss when timeout issues and no attempt at a potential tying field goal resulted in a 6-3 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
Thursday’s Seahawks-Bears matchup was one of two NFL games this season without a touchdown. Chicago totaled 179 yards of offense, its fourth-lowest output in 2024, and managed only a field goal in its final home game of the season.
Similar to how the Bears’ loss to the Lions played out on Thanksgiving Day, Chicago trailed by three entering its final drive. The Bears took possession with 5 minutes, 12 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter at their 11-yard line with all three timeouts.
Chicago ran six plays before facing fourth-and-inches from its 39-yard line when left guard Jake Curhan, who started in place of injured Teven Jenkins (calf), was flagged for a false start.
The Bears were in punt formation when interim head coach Thomas Brown utilized his team’s first timeout with 2:14 left. A situation that appeared to be the result of confusion on the sideline was a byproduct of Brown deciding to be more aggressive.
“It wasn’t confusion at all,” Brown said. “I just changed my mind. I think being able to use [punter] Tory [Taylor] as a weapon, and we still had I think it was 2:16 on the clock, still had our three timeouts, plus the two-minute warning. The way our defense had been playing all day, possibly have a chance to go flip the field and force the three-and-out, get a shorter field and have, like, a last end-of-the-game drive. That was my thought process.
“Over the course of that, I changed my mind and said, ‘Let’s go for it now,’ and sent the offense back on the grass.”
Quarterback Caleb Williams connected with receiver DJ Moore on the subsequent fourth-and-5 play for a 14-yard gain. The Bears ran one play after the two-minute warning and allowed 45 seconds to come off the clock before rookie Rome Odunze gained 15 yards on third-and-14 to get the Bears into Seattle territory.
But Chicago would not advance the ball past the Seahawks’ 40-yard line, and another one-score loss would end in similar confounding fashion.
Williams said he was hit in the throat by Seattle’s pass rush after launching a deep ball to Odunze. Between the time that play began to when Chicago ran its next play on first down, an additional 38 seconds came off the clock.
“I don’t know if the coaches saw me down there after the big completion to Rome,” Williams said. “Even though I got hit in the throat and the face, got to just get up and go run down and snap the ball.”
The Bears ended up using their second timeout on second-and-10 from the Seattle 40-yard line, and a frustrated Williams was seen yelling toward the sideline.
Just like in Detroit, the Bears needed a field goal to tie the score, and they crossed the 50-yard line with 1:05 left. After wasting 83 seconds of game time, Chicago failed to attempt a field goal.
Brown confirmed that kicker Cairo Santos‘ kick line was between the 34- and 37-yard line.
After getting to the Seattle 40-yard line, the Bears threw four straight passes, the last of which resulted in Williams launching his first interception after throwing 353 passes without a turnover (fourth most in NFL history).
“I think obviously there’s times where you can have a better call, want a better call, things like that, but we didn’t execute,” Williams said. “I didn’t execute on many different occasions this game, and it’s frustrating. But got to find a way.”
After the game, several Bears players described a chaotic feeling on the sideline as Chicago used two of its three timeouts in situations that didn’t allow the offense to move the ball closer to field goal range.
“There were some wrinkles in there,” Moore said. “The one time that it went all the way down and we really didn’t know what to do. But at the end of the day, shoot, that’s on us. We’ve got to stay prepared throughout the whole game and I mean, that’s all I can say.”