End of the Bears/Lions game

Dang, I missed it but Twitter is ablaze about it right now. What exactly happened?
 
2nd down was a sack that ended with about 30-35 seconds left on the clock. Bears let the clock run and run instead of calling their last TO and finally snapped for 3rd down with about 6 seconds left. Incomplete pass hit the ground after clock expired. Game over.
 
CFordUNC said:
Dang, I missed it but Twitter is ablaze about it right now. What exactly happened?
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Worse clock management than even Mack Brown has ever pulled off. The Bears had a timeout available to them, about 36 seconds and only managed a single play in that time and time expired on them with that timeout still in their quiver.
 
It was mindboggling. Even if they didn't call a timeout they were lined up with 15 seconds to go, but for some reason didn't snap the ball until 5 seconds left.
 
Turd Ferguson said:
It was mindboggling. Even if they didn't call a timeout they were lined up with 15 seconds to go, but for some reason didn't snap the ball until 5 seconds left.
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Yup, saving the timeout wasn’t even the problem, it was not getting the play off 10 seconds sooner.
 
I think the coach wanted to save the timeout so that they could use the entire field on the play and expected Caleb to snap the ball with 10+ seconds. Then he only had 3-4 seconds to call the TO once Caleb didn’t get the snap off and missed that window as he was probably thinking “snap it, snap it.”
 
ChapelHillSooner said:
I think the coach wanted to save the timeout so that they could use the entire field on the play and expected Caleb to snap the ball with 10+ seconds. Then he only had 3-4 seconds to call the TO once Caleb didn’t get the snap off and missed that window as he was probably thinking “snap it, snap it.”
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Interviews with players after the game suggested that they had no idea what was going on, and that it wasn't a Caleb problem. Now, you might be right that Eberflus was thinking "snap it" but it seems that he didn't communicate that to anyone.

And as far as him saying that they did it the right way, I mean -- that in itself is fireable. Usually we consider 35 seconds left to be "plenty of time." Teams get the ball back with that amount of time and drive the field for a FG (and occasionally TD, though rarer). The Bears could only run one play, and a bad one. I mean, everybody was like "I can't believe this is happening, worst clock management ever."

That's like asking a Japanese admiral about the battle of Midway, and getting a response like, "I think we did a lot of good things there, all things considered. We definitely had a good plan."
 
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