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 Green Bay, the Bears took a huge risk. 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, Packers 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 just 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 Packers 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 that Jeffery couldn't pull down. 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 a little greedy, wanting seven instead of three at the end of the first half, and ended up with nothing.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
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