Disastrous missed timeout call costs Bears against Lions, Cowboys continue improbable playoff push: NFL Thanksgiving review

(CNN) — While people tucked into their turkey, there was plenty of football for fans to also enjoy on Thanksgiving.

Games in Detroit, Dallas and Green Bay were played with the winning teams celebrating, as is tradition, by eating turkey during their postgame interviews.

Here’s what happened across the NFL on Thanksgiving.

Missed late timeout costs Bears against Lions

A missed timeout call from Bears head coach Matt Eberflus ended up costing the Chicago as they attempted to make a late comeback against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving’s first game of the day, falling short 23-20 in the Motor City.

The Bears had fallen into a 16-0 hole in what looked like a one-sided affair at Ford Field as the Chicago offense struggled to move the ball and Detroit dominated time of possession.

Three Jake Bates field goals and a Sam LaPorta touchdown catch had it looking like Detroit would comfortably roll to an 10th-straight win.

But to Chicago’s credit, the Bears fought their way back, with rookie quarterback Caleb Williams throwing three touchdown passes – two to Keenan Allen and one to DJ Moore – to cut the lead to three when they got the ball back on their own seven-yard line with 3:31 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Williams drove the Bears into Lions territory in a bid to set up a field goal which would’ve sent the game to overtime, but the 2024 No. 1 overall pick was sacked on second-and-20 from the 35-yard line.

As the clock ticked on with under 30 seconds remaining, Williams hustled to get the offense set before throwing a pass as time expired which fell incomplete to Rome Odunze meaning the game was over and the Bears lost.

What was baffling to many in attendance and those at home watching the game was Chicago still had one timeout remaining, which Eberflus could have used to stop the clock to allow his team to get back into field goal position to try to send the game to overtime.

After the calamitous ending to the game, Eberflus said he was “taking the blame” but defended his handling of the situation.

“Our hope was – because it was third (down) going into fourth – that we would re-rack that play at 18 seconds, throw it inbounds, get into field goal range and then call the timeout,” Eberflus told reporters. “That’s where it was and that was our decision-making process on that. Again, we were outside the field goal range, so we needed to get a few more yards in there, as close as we can get, and then we were going to call a timeout, and that’s why we held that last timeout.”

He added: “I like what we did there. Again, once it’s under 12 (seconds) there, you’re going to call timeout there, you don’t have an option. … To me, I think we handled it the right way. I do believe you re-rack the play, get it inbounds and then call timeout. That’s why we held it and it didn’t work out the way we wanted it to.”

The way the defeat came about only sought to exacerbate the feelings of disappointment felt by Chicago fans as they lost their sixth game in a row, adding another heartbreaking loss to the ever-expanding list of them they’ve had this season.

For the Lions, the win improves them to 11-1 – the best start to a season in franchise history.

In the end, it was the Lions players who were celebrating eating roasted turkey on the postgame show as is tradition. While many of the players tucked in, running back David Montgomery chowed down on a carrot on the side with a sheepish smile on his face.

Cowboys continue improbable playoff push

The Dallas Cowboys continued their improbable late-season playoff push as they beat their NFC East division rivals, the New York Giants, 27-20 in Thanksgiving’s second game.

The victory was the Cowboys’ second in a row – and their first at home this season – to improve them to 5-7.

Although they are without starting quarterback Dak Prescott after he underwent season-ending surgery on a hamstring injury weeks ago, Dallas’ star pass rusher Micah Parsons isn’t ruling out a late postseason push from ‘America’s Team.’

“To be honest, it’s really been, ‘Why not us?’” Parsons told Fox Sports’ Erin Andrews after the win over the Giants. “Everybody counted us out, and it was just like: ‘Enough’s enough.’ We know what we got, we know what we can do here, and I believe in every one of these guys, and I believe we’re gonna turn it around and make a run.”

According to NFL.com, the Cowboys’ chances of reaching the postseason stand at 4% following the victory.

Dallas was powered by a solid performance from backup quarterback Cooper Rush and a career performance from running back Rico Dowdle.

Rush threw 21-of-36 for 195 yards and a touchdown to Brandin Cooks while Dowdle ran or a career-high 112 yards and a score to become the first Cowboys running back with over 100 yards and a touchdown since Week 10 of 2022.

Although the Giants scored the opening touchdown of the game through rookie running back Tyrone Tracy Jr, a 23-yard DeMarvion Overshown pick-six of Giants QB Drew Lock and two first-half field goals from Brandon Aubrey meant Dallas led 13-10 at halftime.

But two touchdowns from Dallas in the third quarter gave the home team a commanding lead before 10 fourth-quarter points from the Giants made it a nervy ending, but the Cowboys were able to hold on.

“Well, where we are, I haven’t really had time to think past even the quarter, as far as can we get us a win,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told reporters afterwards. “This is the NFL. Any team can give you the loss. But bottom line is I’m glad to get this one. We’ve got Cincinnati coming up. We’ll be better.

“The bottom line is I see improvement, and with improvement, then we got teams ahead of us that we can (beat).”

Packers blitz past Dolphins

In Thanksgiving’s final game, a scoring barrage from the Green Bay Packers was enough to hold off the Miami Dolphins 30-17 at Lambeau Field.

QB Jordan Love had two touchdown passes, both to Jayden Reed, and running back Josh Jacobs had another score as Green Bay exploded on offense early. Brandon McManus also added three field goals.

It was another impressive outing for Jacobs, who completed his fifth-straight game with 100-plus scrimmage yards – 43 on the ground and 74 through the air – which is the longest such streak by a Green Bay player since Eddie Lacy in 2014 (nine games in a row) and is tied with Atlanta’s Bijan Robinson for the longest such streak by a player in 2024.

By the 7:42 mark of the third quarter, the Packers were leading 27-3 in cold temperatures in Wisconsin before the Dolphins scored 14 points in garbage time.

It was a complete performance for Green Bay, with the defense hurrying Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa all evening; five players had at least three pressures and Tagovailoa was sacked four times.

Afterwards, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur called it a “total team win.”

“Well, there was a lot to like. We get out to a big lead, but we’d like to finish it out and we kind of allowed them to get back into the game,” he said.

The win improves the Packers to 9-3 and sets up a huge NFC North clash with the Lions next week at Ford Field.

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