Every year presents each NFL team a blank slate and a fresh start, which is exactly what the Chicago Bears need after they went 5-12 last year. It even looked as though the Bears were going to start the season off with a huge win, especially as they held Minnesota Vikings quarterback JJ McCarthy in check for the first three quarters, including scoring a pick-six against him to push the lead to 17-6 in the third quarter.
Alas, the Bears could not finish the job. They allowed the Vikings to come back into the game, with McCarthy finding his groove — allowing Minnesota to turn the tables and take a 27-17 lead over Chicago with 2:53 remaining in regulation. Caleb Williams and company still had a chance to win, however, especially after they scored to pull to within three with 2:02 left in the fourth.
However, that's when the Bears' decision-making went off the rails. They decided to gun for a touchback from place kicker Cairo Santos instead of telling him to kick the ball out of bounds. What this meant was that the Bears needed to burn their final timeout to stop the clock on the Vikings' ensuing drive; if they kicked the ball out of bounds instead, that would have kept the clock at 2:02 with the ball being on the 40-yard line — allowing the two-minute warning to stop the clock for them.
This then prevented the Bears from mounting much of a challenge from thereon out as they suffered a 27-24 defeat — much to the dismay of many fans on social media.
Fans clown the Bears for their poor decision-making late in the game
The Bears are already projected to be one of the bottom-feeders in the NFL this season, and this late-game mismanagement won't help matters for them whatsoever. They certainly became the butt of jokes on X.
“The #Bears should’ve just kicked it out of bounds and let them get the ball at the 40. Big mistake,” @MySportsUpdate wrote.
“Bears should have kicked the ball out of bounds there and took the penalty,” @JoeyKnish22 added.
“I dont understand that decision to kick off there with just 1 timeout left. If you're going to kickoff, kick it out of bounds. OR try the onside. Makes ZERO sense,” @Zack_Pearson furthered.
In particular, Santos became a laughingstock for his purported inability to kick the ball out of the endzone.
“Cairo Santos really has a noodle leg,” @Illinois2Natty wrote.
“BECAUSE CAIRO SANTOS CANT KICK A BALL AS FAR AS AN AVERAGE NFL KICKER,” @GeorgeDarkow expressed.
