DETROIT – With 36 seconds left and a three-point deficit after a furious second-half comeback in Detroit, the Chicago Bears were in position to tie or beat the Lions on Thanksgiving Day.

But late-game mismanagement of the clock ensured the Bears wouldn’t get the chance to pull out a come-from-behind win against their division rival. As Chicago ran out of time to consolidate its sixth straight defeat in a 23-20 loss, coach Matt Eberflus defended his decision not to call a timeout in the final moments of the game.

“We’re at 36 seconds now and our hope was that we would restart the game at 18 seconds, throw it in the ball and put it in field goal range because it was third (down) going in went on the fourth (down) and then called a timeout,” Eberflus said.

After getting the ball back at the Detroit 1-yard line with 3:31 to play, the Bears ran 13 plays before facing second-and-20 from the Lions’ 35-yard line. Quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked for a 6-yard loss with 32 seconds left, while Detroit defensive end Za’Darius Smith escaped unscathed and brought down the rookie in the backfield.

Instead of calling a timeout before Chicago’s final play while facing third-and-26 from Detroit’s 41-yard line, the Bears let the clock run out. About 10 seconds passed before Williams frantically alerted the offense to line up for a passing play, and the ball wasn’t snapped until there were six seconds left in regulation.

Williams threw a deep ball to rookie wide receiver Rome Odunze, which bounced off the turn inside the 5-yard line as time expired.

“When we snapped the ball, I knew the (clock) was going to expire, so I tried to get into the end zone,” Odunze said. “We just didn’t get good coverage for it. I’m going to know what I have to do to get there.

When Eberflus was asked after the game how the Bears should have handled the final sequence in hindsight, he doubled down on the team’s late-game plight.

“I like what we did there,” Eberflus said. “Again, once it’s under seven (seconds), you’re going to call a timeout there – under 12, actually, and then you really have no choice because it’s third-to-four, then you have to throw it into the end zone. “.

“For me it’s – I think we handled it right. I do believe that you just restart the game, bring it into play and call a timeout, and that’s why we held it and it didn’t work out the way we wanted. “Too.”

It took 26 seconds from the time Williams was sacked to the moment he grabbed the ball on the final play of the game. The quarterback had called a timeout at the start of the drive but indicated he was unable to do so again, prompting him to change the play with 13 seconds left to make one final shot.

“I made an adjustment because I saw the clock running down because I knew that if we threw a ball in or something like that, we weren’t going to have time to shoot a field goal or something like that Art,” Williams said. “So I made an adjustment and I knew Rome was either going to play one-on-one or he was going to get past security and be there one-on-one and I tried to give him a chance and we got the chance and . “missed.”

Kicker Cairo Santos would have been able to kick a 58-yard field goal on the final play, but Eberflus said the Bears were out of field goal range. Santos’ career rushing yards are 55 yards, which he has accomplished twice in his career (2020 with Panthers, 2023 with Vikings), but the kicker’s recent ups and downs include blocked 48-yard field goals in consecutive games against Green Bay and Minnesota along with hitting a field goal that sent the Bears to overtime in Week 12 could have contributed to Chicago’s decision to move closer to the end zone before their kicking unit sent out, played a role.

Santos, warming up on the sideline, didn’t expect the final moments to unfold the way they did.

“I didn’t see that,” Santos said. “We rehearse these scenarios and I imagine that I can do it. I know we want to play to win, but I just imagine I’ll at least get a chance there.”

Since the Bears’ plan was to start a play as soon as the clock reached 18 seconds to get into field goal range, Eberflus was also asked why he didn’t call a timeout at that moment when he saw that the ball had not been snapped.

“Once it drops below 12 (seconds), you have to hold on,” Eberflus said.

Eberflus attributed the Bears’ mistakes to the “entire operation” but defended Chicago’s communication in the final 36 seconds of the game.

“We all agreed, we just have to do it a little better,” said Eberflus.

The loss was Chicago’s sixth straight, dropping the Bears to 4-8. According to ESPN Research, the Bears are the first team since turnovers were first recorded in 1933 to go on a six-game losing streak without committing multiple turnovers in any of those games. The Bears have lost four games decided by 3 points or fewer this season, tied with the Jets for the most losses in the NFL and the most such losses in franchise history in a single season (1983 and 2015).

Several Bears players were shocked that a timeout wasn’t called in the final moments of the game.

“All of a sudden I see everyone coming on the field and the game is over,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “So I was like, ‘What the hell just happened?’ When I turned around, Caleb just had to find a way to not get a sack and unfortunately the clock keeps ticking and I’m sure the thought was to get some yardage and then take that Time out to then shoot the field goal. But we were just a little too late.”

Wide receiver DJ Moore, who recorded a team-high eight catches for 97 yards and a touchdown, expressed similar disbelief at the game’s outcome.

“I mean, you’re like, ‘What the fuck?’ No, it’s like, ‘What the hell,’ but it is what it is,” Moore said. “It’s not what it is, but we have to find a way to win. We keep coming back in these games and we have time to actually win the game and we’re just in bed.”

After taking a 226-yard lead in the first half, gaining a first down and being put out of the game, the Bears rallied from a 16-point deficit to open the third quarter with a 74-yard touchdown drive. Williams led the Bears on three touchdown drives in the second half, while also setting a new franchise rookie record for passing touchdowns with 15.

Thursday’s loss increases Eberflus’ record to 5-19 in one-score games, the worst record by a coach with at least 20 such games in NFL history.

“It was tough,” wide receiver Keenan Allen said. “I feel like we did enough as players to win the game.”