DETROIT — The Bears began jogging off the field at halftime Sunday with good reason — the game clock had hit zero.
Then they were turned back. When they were eventually left the field a second time, they had given up another seven points.
Here’ how it happened: the Lions were out of timeouts when they threw a deep completion to receiver Isaac TeSlaa along the right sideline with 16 seconds to play. With Tyrique Stevenson covering him, TeSlaa caught the 29-yard pass and landed along the sideline.
While there was confusion about whether he went out of bounds, the game clock ran on the field. It ticked down to 0 before the Lions could spike the ball to stop it.
Replay, however, ruled that TeSlaa was in bounds after catching the ball. Because there was a review, officials, by rule, had to run 10 seconds off the clock. That allowed the Lions to line up again after the Bears jogged back onto the field. The official wound the clock, quarterback Jared Goff took the snap and threw the ball to Amon-Ra St. Brown for a four-yard touchdown.
The Bears went into halftime down 28-14.
The offense had an excellent first drive after falling behind 7-0, but struggled after that before pushing for a touchdown drive shortly before halftime.
Jahmyr Gibbs might be the fastest running back in football, while David Montgomery’s physical running style typically yields fourth-quarter breakthroughs against exhausted defenses.
