Bears HC Ben Johnson takes full accountability for the result of the final play that caused Chicago to come up just short in Week 17
Another tough way to lose such a close game.
The Chicago Bears certainly know how to keep fans on the edge of their seats with another close game in Week 17 against the San Francisco 49ers but this team the ball fell in the other court.
Similarly to the Week 14 loss to the Green Bay Packers, the Bears had the ball on offense with the game on the line on the final play and came up short.
After orchestrating 14 straight plays, including three conversions on third or fourth down, to get inside the five-yard-line, quarterback Caleb Williams’ final pass of the game fell just short after having to maneuver all around the field.
Ben Johnson falls on the sword for the final play in Week 17 loss
While talking to reporters after the game, head coach Ben Johnson made sure to fall on the sword for what went wrong on that final play.
“We didn’t quite get aligned in the formation we wanted to,” Johnson said. “It’s on me. I didn’t get the call in fast enough. So, [Williams] is trying to piecemeal it together. I gotta do a better job.”
Back in Week 14, the Bears lost on an interception but it wasn’t a bad play call or, in my opinion, a bad play by Williams, just a better play by the defense. This game was different, things got rushed late and it’s clear that final play wasn’t right from the start. And it’s great to see Johnson own up to that and even Williams held himself accountable, despite the issues presnap, for what happened after it.
“I didn’t have enough time to fix it,” Williams told reporters. “Having to motion and things like that. We just had to try and make something out of nothing in that situation. We had a shot, with all of that going on, time running down, us misaligned and things like that. We had a shot and I just gotta give my guys a shot in that situation. I think I ended up dirt’ing the ball, didn’t get my legs into it, and just [need] to put the ball in the end zone in that moment. [I] can’t dirt the ball.”
Truthfully, the final play isn’t what lost this game for the Bears. Chicago knew this would be an offensive shootout on Sunday night and it’s not on the offense that the 49ers made more plays. It’s remarkable the Bears even gave it a final chance after allowing 42 points and nearly 500 yards of offense on the other side of the ball.
Good news, the loss mattered little for Chicago, this team will still be hosting a playoff game in the first-round at Soldier Field and clearly know what areas are problematic and can cause this team to get bounced out of the postseason earlier than anyone would want. Now, it’s time to actually fix it.