Two weeks in a row the Bears burn their timeouts early. Having them available may have helped against Green Bay and could have been important against the Panthers. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

_________________
“How do you get to be president and you’re stupid?” Donald J Trump - 4/10/25
When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus. - Turkish Proverb

When people wonder why you question Lovie's in game decision making in the future, use this game as another example of his disorganization.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

who actually called the timeout?

Yeah what the hell. Martz thought they got a first down when they didn't, and I swear Marlinelli early in the game thought the Panthers got a first down when it was actually 3rd-and-1, and Urlacher called a TO for that too. And also the 4th down inside the 10 when no play was sent in yet with single digits on the play clock.

What the hell? How does that happen???


I bet Rivera was thinking the same thing that John Kerry once said outloud to his staffers: "I can't believe I'm losing to these guys".

I can see having to use a timeout every so often to get the right personnel on the field. There is no excuse for not having the play to the QB in time.

The Bears ran out of timeouts with about 8 minutes to go in the game yesterday, because they were debating to go for it on 4th & short, or kick a short field goal. I believe the FG was only about 28-30 yards anyway. At that point, the timeout is more valuable than the 5 yard delay of game penalty. Take the 5 yards and have Gould kick the FG. Good thing there was nothing Lovie needed to challenge in the 4th quarter.

_________________

I was watching the game at a bar so it was a little distracting but was it this game where the Bears took a timeout on fourth and short in easy field goal range in order to save a five yard penalty? Why not just take the penalty. Gould can make it from 5 yards further with no issue.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

BRick must have my on ignore

_________________

Does anyone know if I'm right?

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Both teams executed clock management terribly yesterday. Carolina wasted all of that time at the end of the game trying to get the touchdown to cut the lead to a single score. They should have just taken the field goal when they got in range, then attempted the onside kick with about 45 seconds on the clock. Instead they were left with 4 seconds, and zero chance to tie the game. They also burned a couple timeouts or held on to them at weird places as well.

_________________

One thing I remember about Martz when he headcoached is that he threw time-outs and challenges away as if he didn't want them. Then you've got the Martz handicap of not allowing audibles; forcing time-outs because it is the only option open to Cutler when he's being forced to run a doomed play.

Now he's in the mix with Lovie, and Lovie has always exhibited confused clock management. Lovie's first year clock-management was laughable. His second year was barely acceptable, and he has never improved much after that.

The two of these guys together adds up to monumental clock-management errors. If a team ever needed a "clock coach", like I think Herm Edwards employed with the Jets, it's this one.

And the clock problems go beyond stopages. Going back a week, at the end on the 1st half the Bears had the ball in the red zone with about 1:12 to play. ANYBODY would know that you have two objectives. 1. Score. 2. Leave no time on the clock for the opposition to score. They fired three incomplete passes and kicked the FG with about :55 left in the half. Packers didn't score, but that doesn't erase the football 101 error.

_________________
The Cubs, I mean Sox, won, I mean lost--Tommy Williams.