It took Carolina Panthers coach Frank Reich less than 24 hours to regret a big decision he made late in the team’s loss to the Chicago Bears on Thursday night.
With less than two minutes to go while trailing 16-13, Reich opted to attempt a 59-yard field goal from the Bears’ 41-yard line instead of trying to convert on a 4th-and-10. The kick fell well short, with Reich justifying it after the game by saying he was playing the percentages.
Reich had already thought better than that on Friday. When speaking to the media, he admitted that he made a bad call and that he should have given rookie quarterback Bryce Young the opportunity to make something happen.
“Give Bryce that moment, in hindsight,” Reich said, via Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. “The reason is that there was still time enough on the clock. Even if we get the conversion, we still have time to drive down and score. It’s easy to second guess yourself, I wish I’d gone the other way. I considered all the options, I went with the statistical play.”
Ultimately, the Panthers may have been caught between a rock and a hard place, because it was not as if the Carolina offense had been productive during the game. Still, a 59-yard field goal try is a long shot under the best of circumstances.
The Panthers are now 1-8 after Thursday’s loss. One could argue that the team did not really have anything to lose from going for it, which Reich seems to admit now.
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