Once again, the Chicago Bears are facing questions about clock management in a heartbreaking loss.
Bears coach Ben Johnson’s clock management was questioned after Chicago lost 28-21 to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisc. The Bears put themselves in position to tie the game in the final two minutes, but let a huge amount of time drain off the clock that significantly limited how many plays they had to score a game-tying touchdown.
Chicago appeared to have set themselves up nicely with the ball at the Packers’ 23-yard line at the two-minute warning and all three timeouts. Chicago then dialed up back-to-back runs, but did not call timeout after either of them.
The Bears finally used their first timeout after a third consecutive run left them with a 4th and 1 and 27 seconds left. Chicago essentially burned a minute and a half off the clock and did not even get a first down for their troubles.
On fourth down, quarterback Caleb Williams threw an interception in the end zone, ending the game. The Bears still had two timeouts that went unused.
Johnson and the Bears took a lot of heat on social media for how they handled the clock on that drive.
Bears had 3 timeouts. And kept them in their pocket. Im not putting this loss on Caleb. He did about as much as he could do. Johnson's game management was awful down the stretch. Should have been more seconds on the clock.
— Keith Murphy (@murphdogg29) December 8, 2025
Horrible clock management by the Bears. 3 straight runs when you are cruising down the field? I don't understand it.
— DepressedBengalsFan (@SargeWhoDey) December 8, 2025
The Bears burned clock like it didn’t matter. It did. Lost the game with 2 of their time outs. Unbelievable
— Tim Sullivan (@T_R_Sullivan) December 8, 2025
Terrible clock management by #Bears to end that one. Three timeouts could’ve given you an opportunity to get the ball back if you didn’t convert. Needed to play with a little more urgency. 4th down play should’ve been run around ~1 min left and 3 timeouts.
— Kyle Stich (@k_sticher) December 8, 2025
The Bears likely wanted to make sure the Packers would have virtually no time left to do anything if they did tie the game on that drive, or went for two and the win. The notion of leaving themselves with extra timeouts in the event that they failed to score did not seem to be in consideration.
This is not the first time the Bears have been singled out for questionable clock management. This was nowhere near as bad as that, but Johnson still opened himself up to some questions.
