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Bears Game Day Live: How the Bears community rallies around the Havens fight against cancer
Thanksgiving is a time for family. The Havens family knows this. They feel it when the Bears rally around them in Zach Havens' fight against cancer.
The Chicago Bears found another heartbreaking way to lose a game. This time, it felt like it could have been avoided.
Bears head football coach Matt Eberflus had a timeout in the fourth quarter of a 23-20 game. He elected not to use it after a second down sack of Caleb Williams, and time ran out.
Final, 23-20. Lions win. Bears lose. What happened?
Eberflus explained he held on to the timeout for the play that was supposed to happen between third and fourth down, which was supposed to lead to a potential game-tying field goal for the Bears.
"We were outside the field goal range," Eberflus said, "That's why we held that timeout."
After the sack, Eberflus explained the plan was to get the play call in and throw a completion that would have gotten the Bears back into field goal range after a sack took them out of it.
Once the sack happened, it changed the complexion of the plan.
The Bears went full into field goal mode to tie the game after that.
"I like what we did there," Eberflus said. "Really you don't have an option, it was third going into fourth."
After that, the Bears' operations lacked. The play call didn't come in quick enough, the Bears didn't line up quick enough and the clock ran to six seconds before the Bears snapped the football.
"We like the play that we had," Eberflus said.
Eberflus may have liked the play, but the plan changed once the time ticked away.
Once the clock ticked to six seconds at the snap, the Bears could only settle for a heave to the end zone.
Williams' pass for Rome Odunze was broken up. Game over.
Eberflus was adamant the Bears were never confused or turned around in what to do at that moment. The execution, as is the story for the last six games, needed to be better in the moment.
"We were all on the same page left," Eberflus said. "We just got to do a little bit better."
In a season where the Bears have found four excruciatingly painful ways to lose football games, Thursday's Thanksgiving loss might have been the worst.
Not only did the Bears have a chance to win the game with a touchdown, but they were in position to tie the game if it came to that. The Bears only came away with a loss.
What didn't help was that the Bears suffered from the three things that have pained them all season to this point: Penalties, clock mismanagement and offensive line failures.
The final play isn't knocked out of field goal range if the Bears don't allow a sack on second down.
There was an offensive pass interference flag that negated a massive gain by DJ Moore earlier in the drive, too. To cap it all off, the Bears' clock management, which had a life-line with one timeout remaining, was horribly botched to the point where they led the clock run out from 32 seconds after the end of the second down play.
Eberflus, asked about the accountability for the play in a game the Bears could have at the very least tied, took the blame.
"I'm the head football coach, I'm taking the blame of course," Eberflus said. "I got to do it better."