Bears Coach Defends Awful Clock Management: 'We Handled It Right'

The Chicago Bears lost to the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving day, and many fans are pointing to Chicago's less-than-ideal clock management at the end of the game.

The Bears trailed by three at the end of the game, needing a field goal to tie and potentially a touchdown to win the game. 

With 36 seconds left, Chicago had a timeout that would have stopped the clock and extended the game, but head coach Matt Eberflus elected to let time run down, giving the team a single chance to win the game on the final play.

After that play was unsuccessful and the Bears lost the game, Eberflus defended his decision to keep the timeout.

"We're at 36 seconds right there and our hope was, because it was third [down] going into fourth [down], that we would rerack that play at 18 seconds, throw it inbounds, get it in field goal range and then call a timeout," Eberflus said on Thursday.

Quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked, and Eberflus chose not to call the timeout to stop the clock. Williams then rallied the team to the line for one final play, a deep ball to the end zone that ended up falling to the ground for an incomplete pass.

"I like what we did there," Eberflus said, doubling down on his decision despite the criticism.

"I think we handled it the right way, I do believe that you just rerack the play, get it in bounds and call timeout, and that's why we held it and didn't work out the way we wanted it to."