Bears’ Thomas Brown claims ‘no confusion’ after worst clock management you’ll ever see

Chicago took possession with 5:12 left in the fourth quarter. The Bears stalled for a fourth-and-inches from its own 39-yard line and 2:14 remaining. A false start changed the narrative and Brown called the punt team onto the field.

Before the punt attempt occurred, Brown used his team’s first timeout to send the offense back onto the field. The backtracks laid hard and heavy as Brown tried to explain the silly situation, according to espn.com.

“It wasn’t confusion at all,” Brown said. “I just changed my mind.”

Yep. You don’t get a free pass on that in the NFL. Coaches are paid handsomely to make quick and firm decisions. They don’t toss away timeouts trailing in the fourth quarter.

Brown continued, “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.”

Oddly enough it almost worked. Caleb Williams hit D.J. Moore for a 6-yard gain. And the Bears eventually drove into Seahawks territory. But more madness ensued. Williams said he was hit in the throat on a pass to Rome Odunze. Before Chicago ran its next play on first down, 38 seconds ticked 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.”

Just a mess. Another fine Bears mess.