Why Bears decided to kneel on 4th down in 4th quarter

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For the first time all season, the Bears dominated their opponent. They beat the Patriots on Monday Night Football in convincing fashion, and won in all three phases of the game. The 33-14 final score reflected that, but the margin of victory could’ve been even greater.

With time winding down in the fourth quarter, the Bears had the ball inside the Patriots’ five-yard line. Instead of trying for more points however, the Bears simply kneeled on fourth down, purposely turning the ball over on downs.

The decision caused some head scratching both on social media and in the broadcast booth.

“If you have a chance to score 40 in Foxborough, you score 40 in Foxborough,” said Peyton Manning in the “Manningcast” of the game.

The reason for the kneel down was simple enough, though. Matt Eberflus already called GG.

“I mean the game was over,” Eberflus said. “We had third down. We ran the ball on first down. We just got the interception, right? Ran the ball first down, second down, third down, and then we just took a knee. It was over at that point.”

With less than a minute left and the Bears up three scores, Eberflus is right. The game was over, and Belichick agreed. When the Pats took over on downs, they kneeled too, to run out the remainder of the clock. There was no need to run up the score.

“Just respect for the game,” Eberflus said.

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