Chicago Bears’ Late-Game Struggles Continue in Loss to Seattle Seahawks
CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears’ season has been a rollercoaster of emotions, and unfortunately, the ride took another dip on Thursday night. Just a month after clock-management issues against the Detroit Lions led to the dismissal of coach Matt Eberflus, the Bears found themselves in a similar predicament. This time, it was against the Seattle Seahawks, resulting in a 6-3 loss, marking their 10th consecutive defeat.
The matchup between the Seahawks and Bears was one of only two NFL games this season that ended without a touchdown. The Bears’ offense struggled mightily, managing just 179 yards, their fourth-lowest output in 2024, and only a field goal in their final home game of the season.
In a scenario eerily reminiscent of their Thanksgiving Day loss to the Lions, the Bears trailed by three points as they embarked on their final drive. With 5 minutes and 12 seconds left in the fourth quarter, they took possession at their 11-yard line, armed with all three timeouts.
However, the drive quickly hit a snag. After six plays, the Bears faced a fourth-and-inches situation from their 39-yard line. Left guard Jake Curhan, filling in for the injured Teven Jenkins (calf), was flagged for a false start.
With the Bears in punt formation, interim head coach Thomas Brown called a timeout with 2:14 remaining. What appeared to be sideline confusion was actually a change of heart by Brown, who decided to take a more aggressive approach.
“It wasn’t confusion at all,” Brown explained. “I just changed my mind. 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.”
Quarterback Caleb Williams connected with receiver DJ Moore on the subsequent fourth-and-5 play for a 14-yard gain. The Bears ran one play after the two-minute warning and allowed 45 seconds to tick away before rookie Rome Odunze gained 15 yards on third-and-14, pushing the Bears into Seattle territory.
But the Bears’ progress stalled at the Seahawks’ 40-yard line, and another one-score loss ended in a perplexing manner. Williams revealed he was hit in the throat by Seattle’s pass rush after launching a deep ball to Odunze. Between the start of that play and the next first down, an additional 38 seconds elapsed.
“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.”
The Bears used their second timeout on second-and-10 from the Seattle 40-yard line, and a visibly frustrated Williams was seen yelling toward the sideline.
Just like in Detroit, the Bears needed a field goal to tie the score, and they crossed the 50-yard line with 1:05 left. After squandering 83 seconds of game time, Chicago failed to attempt a field goal.
Brown confirmed that kicker Cairo Santos‘ kick line was between the 34- and 37-yard line.
After reaching the Seattle 40-yard line, the Bears threw four consecutive passes, the last of which resulted in Williams throwing his first interception after 353 passes without a turnover, the fourth most in NFL history.
“I think obviously there’s times where you can have a better call, want a better call, things like that, but we didn’t execute,” Williams said. “I didn’t execute on many different occasions this game, and it’s frustrating. But got to find a way.”
After the game, several Bears players described a chaotic feeling on the sideline as Chicago used two of its three timeouts in situations that didn’t allow the offense to move the ball closer to field goal range.
“There were some wrinkles in there,” Moore said. “The one time that it went all the way down and we really didn’t know what to do. But at the end of the day, shoot, that’s on us. We’ve got to stay prepared throughout the whole game, and, I mean, that’s all I can say.”
- Chicago Bears’ 10th straight loss
- Timeout issues and no field goal attempt
- Caleb Williams’ first interception after 353 passes
- 179 yards of offense, fourth-lowest in 2024
Originally Written by: Courtney Cronin
