With 1:56 left in the fourth quarter Thursday night, the Bears faced third-and-inches, and Patriots defensive lineman Cory Durden jumped offside. Chicago fans cheered, thinking New England had just made a big mistake. In reality, Patriots coach Mike Vrabel had just called a smart play. Vrabel told Durden to jump offside intentionally because he thought the Patriots were unlikely to prevent the Bears from getting a first down with only inches left, and he preferred to concede the first down without running time off the clock and then use his timeouts on the next series of downs. It turned out to be smart: the Patriots defense stopped the Bears on the next three plays, the Patriots used all three of their timeouts, and the Bears punted with 1:39 left. Unfortunately for the Patriots, Bears kicker Cairo Santos kicked a 58-yard field goal that put the game out of reach. But if Santos had missed, the Patriots would have had a real chance at a game-winning touchdown, and they would have had an extra 40 seconds to do so thanks to Vrabel’s smart clock management. Vrabel confirmed after the game what he had done, not wanting Durden to be blamed for the penalty. “For the record, we told Cory to jump out of bounds on third-and-six,” Vrabel said. “We felt like that was going to be the best way to stop them, and that’s on me, so our guys executed. And Cairo made a great kick.” Kirk Herbstreit, the commentator for the Prime Video game broadcast, correctly pointed out that, for the Patriots, it was better to give the Bears first and 10 than third and inches in that situation. “The fact that it’s third-and-inches instead of first-and-10, actually with the clock, hurts New England,” Herbstreit said after Bears quarterback Caleb Williams was spotted just before the first down on the previous play. When Durden jumped offside, some thought it was a stupid penalty, but Herbstreit knew what was happening. “This guy did this on purpose,” Herbstreit said. “Going back to the clock, we just said, if they get the first down you have to miss a timeout on the third down conversion. Now they get the first down. Vrabel, the way he operates, that’s something they would do.” Vrabel has made similar decisions before. In fact, during the 2020 offseason, the NFL changed its rules for stopping the clock after offensive penalties late in the fourth quarter because of the way Vrabel, then the Titans coach, had run down the clock by committing intentional penalties in a playoff win over the Patriots. On Thursday night, Bears coach Ben Johnson should have waved off the Patriots’ offsides penalty to keep it at third-and-inches. But Johnson apparently hadn’t thought through the consequences of accepting the penalty and the first down that came with it. In the end, the Bears won despite Vrabel’s tactics. But it was another example of how Vrabel is among the best coaches in the league when it comes to managing the clock at the end of the game.
