The Detroit Lions' 23–20 win over the Chicago Bears came down to the final play, and was largely decided by a disastrous bit of clock management from Bears head coach Matt Eberflus.
But one of the plays that led to the play that everyone was talking about was, of course, a punt.
With just under four minutes to play, the Lions punted the ball away from their own 39-yard line. Jack Fox hit a beauty, and Detroit’s coverage team surrounded the ball before downing it six inches from the goal line.
If the Bears were going to score to tie or win the game, they would need to drive the whole field to do it.
Lions punt was downed right on the line 👀
— NFL (@NFL) November 28, 2024
📺: #CHIvsDET on CBS/Paramount+
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/zck2v2XCzA
They say football is a game of inches, but sometimes it’s even closer than that.
THAT CLOSE 😳 pic.twitter.com/NMwL2jq278
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 28, 2024
From the goal line camera, some fans insisted that the play should have been called a touchback.
How is this not a touchback pic.twitter.com/VCKVyBfagb
— VelusJonesBurner (@FadeTheSchwen) November 28, 2024
But the play was not reviewed, and the Bears took over possession as deep inside of their own territory as a football team can get. While they would drive pretty far, they ultimately came up one play and a few seconds short of completing the comeback.
Every play counts.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Epic Camera Angle Shows Just How Perfect Lions’ Punt Coverage Was.
