(670 The Score) Bears coach Matt Eberflus stood by his decision to punt the football on fourth-and-2 with 3:15 remaining in regulation during his team’s 20-12 loss to the Giants on Sunday, despite it turning out to be Chicago's last legitimate chance at driving for a game-tying score.
Eberflus explained that the decision went exactly as he had hoped, with the Bears punting on fourth-and-2 from their own 45-yard line and pinning the Giants deep in their own territory. But after Chicago forced a three-and-out, rookie receiver Velus Jones Jr. muffed the ensuing punt and New York recovered.
The Giants’ punt to Jones came just shy of the two-minute warning with the Bears still having that looming break in addition to one timeout. The call worked as Eberflus planned, but Jones’ miscue proved to be costly.
“That was great,” Eberflus said of how that decision played out. “To me, we banged the timeouts when we were supposed to. We let the other one go because we had the two-minute (warning). We were going to get the ball above two minutes with the timeout at midfield. I believe the punter out-kicked the coverage a bit and we had Velus Jones back there. I mean, we had great blocking. There was a wide space for us to be able to return that ball to midfield. Now, we got a drive there to try to score and tie with the two-point.”
The Bears still had one last chance with the football after the Giants missed a 37-yard field-goal attempt with 17 seconds remaining. But the game soon ended after the Bears' series of laterals resulted in a seven-yard loss.
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