When a team blows a 10-point fourth-quarter lead, there are going to be several moments that get scrutinized in the loss. Robert Tonyan’s dropped pass in the first quarter comes to mind. Darnell Mooney’s opportunity on the final Hail Mary will be replayed all week. But one decision that had social media raving in the moment was Bears head coach Matt Eberflus’ choice to try for a Hail Mary throw at the end of the first half, rather than giving kicker Cairo Santos a shot at a 54-yard field goal.
Each play probably had a low percentage to succeed, but Santos has been one of the most reliable kickers all year. At the time, the Bears and Browns were tied at seven so a field goal would’ve given the team a three-point lead going into the break.
After the game, Eberflus explained why he chose to huck the ball deep rather than try a kick.
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“That was going into the wind,” Eberflus said. “That was just too far of a kick for us to make that attempt there.”
Eberflus wouldn’t say exactly what his kickline was for the day, but he said the offense was “quite a ways back.” The weather clearly played a significant role in the decision, because Santos has been perfect on 50+ yard kicks this year, going 6-6 with a couple of makes from 54 and one from 55.
“The wind was significant in that direction for sure,” Eberflus said.
If the Bears had managed to hold on to the lead in the fourth quarter, there probably wouldn’t be as much attention on this one decision. But of course the Bears ended up losing by three points, so it loomed large in the postgame chatter.
