Hall of Fame coach and longtime Fox NFL analyst Jimmy Johnson eviscerated the end-of-game clock management of Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus in the wake of the Bears' 33-30 loss to the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day.
With 33 seconds to play in regulation and one timeout at their disposal, the Bears were trailing by three and on the edge of field goal range. Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked at the Detroit 41-yard line, which pushed Chicago out of the makeable range for a potential game-tying field goal.
Instead of stopping the clock and getting organized, chaos ensued. The clock continued to run and the next snap was taken with just under seven seconds to play. Williams threw a deep pass that fell incomplete as time expired, and the Bears lost the game, just yards away from field goal range and headed back home to Chicago with one timeout in their pocket.
While Eberflus defended the end-of-game management of the clock, Johnson didn't see things the same way.
"In 70 years of coaching at all three levels, I've never seen dysfunction that cost a team an opportunity to win the game," Johnson began. "Obviously, he's got a rookie quarterback and different teams do it different ways. I handled clock management and timeouts. Sometimes the quarterback and the coach does it. Sometimes the coach has a coach in the box that's talking to him about clock management. But when Eberflus saw that they were off-track and there was dysfunction, he should have called timeout. He says that he wanted to communicate to the rookie quarterback to throw an out route, stop the clock and call the timeout. That was never communicated!"
Jimmy Johnson says in 70 years of being around coaching, he’s never seen the level of dysfunction that the Bears have right now. pic.twitter.com/f8rMIBx6XW
— Harrison Graham (@HGrahamNFL) November 28, 2024
Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long were both just as baffled by the decision making as Johnson was, as NFL fans on Thanksgiving Day were delivered yet another reminder of why the Bears are 4-8.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jimmy Johnson Eviscerates Bears Coach Matt Eberflus for Clock Management Debacle.
