Bears’ mistake at end of half leaves them inches from touchdown

Chicago Bears coach Marc Trestman and quarterback Jay Cutler aren’t averse to risk. Sometimes, the gamble doesn’t win.

With nine seconds left in the first half against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, the Bears took a huge gamble. With no timeouts, the safe move was either to take a field goal or at very least make a throw to the end zone that’s either a touchdown or incomplete to let the field-goal team come on.

Chicago did neither. And its double down ended up busting.

Cutler threw across the middle to Martellus Bennett short of the goal line. Instead of the tight end plowing in for the score, safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix made a great play (the only time in the first half the Packers’ defense did anything notable), grabbing Bennett and keeping him inches from the goal line. Green Bay made the tackle, time ran out on the half and the Packers went into halftime with a 21-17 lead.

The officials reviewed it but it seemed like a tough call because defensive back Micah Hyde was directly in between the best camera for that angle and Bennett, obscuring if the ball actually crossed the line. The call on the field that Bennett was just short was upheld.

The Bears made two big mistakes that cost them first-half points. On a third-and-goal Alshon Jeffery inexplicably was wide open in the end zone, but Cutler sailed a throw way too high. The Bears had to take a field goal instead of a touchdown. And the decision to make the risky throw to Bennett cost the Bears three easy points too.

The Bears got greedy, wanting seven instead of three at the end of the first half, and ended up with nothing. The Packers rode that momentum into the second half, and ended up with a 38-17 win.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab