Before they lost on a Hail Mary, the Bears made an all-time terrible playcall on the goal line.
The Chicago Bears had one of the worst goal line play calls you will ever see in an NFL game in Week 3 during a close loss to the Indianapolis Colts. The Bears ran a speed option on 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard-line, and somehow lost 11 yards.
Would you believe that the Bears would make an even dumber goal line playcall a few weeks later? It happened in the team’s Week 8 showdown with the Washington Commanders.
The Bears’ offense had been struggling horribly all day, but Caleb Williams was marching the team down the field in the fourth quarter. The Bears made it to the goal line, and were poised to take the lead as they trailed Washington, 12-7.
With D’Andre Swift running the ball well, and Williams making multiple impressive plays on the drive, Chicago offensive coordinator Shane Waldron decided to call a handoff to offensive lineman Doug Kramer. Kramer, a former sixth round pick, had never had a carry in his NFL career, but was being used occasionally as a blocking fullback in goal line situations.
He couldn’t take the handoff cleanly from Williams, and Washington recovered the fumble for the turnover.
The refs whistled Washington down on the play, but it was still a back-breaking turnover for the Bears offense.
How on Earth do you call a handoff to an offensive lineman at such a key point in the game? It was a total galaxy brain playcall, and it cost the Bears in spectacular fashion.
The Commanders beat the Bears, 18-15, on Jayden Daniels’ buzzer-beater Hail Mary. After an ending like that, it’s hard to remember all of the other moments along the way. Chicago wouldn’t have been a position to give up a Hail Mary if they had scored on the goal line drive that ended with Kramer’s fumble.
Walron learned his lesson on the next drive, letting running back Roschon Johnson pound the ball in from the goal line to give Chicago the go-ahead touchdown with 23 seconds left. It looked like the Bears had somehow pulled a win out of thin air until Daniels’ Hail Mary took it away.
What a way to lose for Chicago. 5-2 would have sounded a lot better than 4-3.
