Bears head coach Ben Johnson opted to kick an extra point to tie the Rams with 18 seconds left in regulation on Sunday night and he was asked about that decision in his postgame press conference.
The Bears would go on to lose 20-17 after Rams safety Kam Curl picked off Caleb Williams to set up a game-winning field goal drive. Johnson said that the team’s recent play in similar situations led him to kick and take his chances in overtime.
“Thought about it,” Johnson said in his postgame press conference. “Probably what played a little bit of a factor was our goal-to-go situations hadn’t gone very clean. Our inside the five plan hadn’t worked out quite like we’d hoped. I just felt better about taking our chances there in overtime.”
The Bears failed to score after picking up a first down at the Rams’ 5-yard line with just over five minutes to play in the game. They ran D’Andre Swift three times before Williams had a pass broken up by Rams linebacker Omar Speights on fourth down. The Bears also failed to convert two other fourth downs in the first half and their inability to convert in those moments impacted the game multiple times.
