ANOTHER EBER-GOOSE FROM EBERFLUS — WHY KICK? — CAUSES AN AGONIZING LOSS

The Bears fell when the Packers managed two wieldy hands — Brooks and Watson — and could have used more yardage in the final 35 seconds, instead allowing a blocked 46-yard field goal in a 20-19 loss

     The ball landed in Christian Watson’s hand just before it hit the ground, on the 60-yard escapade that buried the Bears. And a second hand, belonging to Karl Brooks, nipped the ball as kicker Cairo Santos tried to win a game without a double doink or even a doink. If Sunday spelled the fate of Matt Eberflus as head coach, it was a two-fisted swallow.

     Not that he didn’t contribute to the pain of a 20-19 loss to the Packers, as a haunted man who watched Tyrique Stevenson create a Hail Mary travesty and fired his offensive coordinator after nine games. The clock at Soldier Field still contained 35 seconds with the ball at the Green Bay 30. Caleb Williams, looking more like the magician taken to dinner by Denzel Washington and befriended by Hollywood, had time to move closer for an easier winning field goal.

     What happened? Another Eber-goose. He chose a running play for two yards and let the clock run until three seconds remained. Santos had a 46-yard kick in a stadium, Soldier Field, that keeps the team’s kickers without sleep throughout their careers.

     Enter the paw of Brooks.

     Prepare for an eventual goodbye to the coach.

     “They were loading the box there,” Eberflus explained. “You could say you could do that for sure, maybe get a couple more yards, but you also risk fumbling and different things there. We felt where we were … if we were at the 36 or 35, you’re definitely doing that because you want to get it inside there. I felt very confident with the wind and where we are on the field.”

     The loss came with wicked intensity, because Williams played well and almost won with a field-goal drive. But the Bears lost for the 11th consecutive time to the Packers — 16 of 17, 20 of 22, 24 of 27 — and haven’t beaten Green Bay in 2,164 days. They fell to 4-6 and face a seven-game schedule worse than David Kaplan’s voice when Eberflus’ cell phone breaks down. This was the glory of Chicago sports … and the inevitable anguish.

     Do not blame Williams. Certainly, do not blame offensive coordinator Thomas Brown, whose one-week shuffling of papers on the Halas Hall practice field worked and led to wild celebrations in the press-box booth. Blame two enemy hands and, yes, a coach who could have thrown one more pass.

     “Santos, do it all over again,” said Williams, preferring to mention an earlier play when Eberflus punted. “If we go back, the drive before, we ended up punting. If we score there and put three points on the board, it makes the game different.” Hmmm.

     The blocked field goal? “Not a loser,” he said. “It’s a situation to learn from.”

     A heartbreaking loss is still a loss and will lead to continued speculation that Eberflus will lose at least 10 games and face dismissal. If nothing else, he discovered Brown — three weeks too late. He told Williams to throw passes quickly, at top-level NFL speeds, and made quick calls after the previous play. He did not tell him to scramble instead of facing an all-time number of sacks, with Williams saying, “There’s a few times I saw a lane and just took it, took off.” If Tom Brady had said as much to Williams when they spoke before the game, he’d be fined by the league because he’s a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders. Sure enough, the kid kept his poise in his first rivalry game — non-rivalry, I mean — and almost pulled out a classic victory with late completions to Rome Odunze and Keenan Allen.

     This was the specialist we saw at USC, who was befriended by Snoop Dogg and sang with John Legend. All he needed was Shane Waldron’s pink slip and Brown’s succession plan. No longer was he lost, except on an incompletion that cost the Bears two points when they lost by one. Oh, there were mistakes — on defense, Eberflus’ territory — when 12 men were on the field as Jordan Love hit Jayden Reed for a first-quarter touchdown. The Hail Mary hellstorm, Stevenson, almost rumbled with Packers during another tug-of-war sequence. But Williams and the offense controlled the football, prompting opposing coach Matt LaFleur to scream at his players while safety Xavier McKinney fired his helmet and hit teammate Carrington Valentine on the back. Love wasn’t seen anywhere near the stands, yelling “I still own you!” like Aaron Rodgers.

     Everything worked out.

     Except the final score.

     There was Jaylon Johnson, who had fallen on Watson’s lunging catch, having to retreat and prevent him from scoring. He still hasn’t beaten the Packers, saying, “We’ve been getting our ass whooped for a long time now.” And there was the offensive line, which was better in protecting Williams and had allowed only one sack — until the last series, when he was bludgeoned twice and faced a third-and-19 mess. He overcame it, but why was Brooks able to raise his hands for the final field-goal flush?

     There is hope, at least, in the psyche of Williams. If nothing else, in what is supposed to be the year of Quarterback Reclamation, he found the rhythm we saw in London. He should realize Love makes errors with weekly interceptions and still signed a $220 million contract. He should know Jayden Daniels has an 80.3 passer rating following his rib injury when he’d topped out earlier at 137.2, as ESPN pointed out. Patrick Mahomes, with his trophies and commercials, comes and goes this year. Williams apologized to teammates for causing Waldron’s firing.

     Is Brown a long-term answer? We’ll see when the Bears play in Detroit, San Francisco and Minnesota in consecutive weeks as Eberflus yelps on the road. The losses could pile up. Double-digit defeats? The head coach cannot return in a division of contenders.

     “You guys deserve so much more,” injured safety Jaquan Brisker said to fans online. “I’m sorry.”

     What’s crazy is that I watched the game with a relative of Eberflus. Would I make this up? “Second cousin,” he said as he watched his team, the Lions, and paid little attention to the Bears. He was sincere at Jameson’s Pub in Santa Monica as he wore his blue Detroit cap and silver Lions jersey. The night before, I joined a friend at Mastro’s steakhouse in Los Angeles following a Kings hockey game. Who was at the end of the bar with his wife? USC coach Lincoln Riley, with my friend striking a conversation after he beat Nebraska.

     Turns out he spoke with Williams last week. “You keep going, my mindset for about everything. Lincoln called me the other day, wanted to check in,” the quarterback said. “Something he told me my freshman year (at Oklahoma), when I wasn’t starting, and he told me to keep going. I didn’t know what those two words meant. I use those words to this day. That’s all we can do. That’s all this team can do.”

     And his performance? “It was time to make plays and let it rip,” he said.

     Riley didn’t say much about Williams, the third quarterback he coached to a Heisman Trophy. Hobnobbing with people close to Eberflus and Caleb? It would have made a cool story if the Bears had won.

     But then came a hand. And another hand. And an Eber-goose.

     Chicago, we can say, has perfected the art of sports failure.

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     Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.