The Chicago Bears lost Ben Johnson's head coaching debut in disappointing fashion, as the team saw a 17-6 fourth quarter lead slip through its grasp en route to the J.J. McCarthy-led Vikings storming back to seize victory on Monday night.

And of the many pivotal plays from the contest, the Bears' final kick in the fourth quarter stands out. After scoring a touchdown to cut the deficit to 27-24, the Bears were set to kickoff with 2:02 remaining in the game with the team having one timeout. In theory, Chicago had only two legitimate options: Number one, an onside kick, or number two, kick the ball out of the back of the end zone to ensure that no time ran off the game clock, preserving the two-minute warning as an extra timeout.

Well, neither option occurred. Bears kicker Cairo Santos booted the ball deep, but Vikings kick returner Ty Chandler, thanks to some sly sideline coaching from Kevin O'Connell, was able to return the ball 33 yards to the Minnesota 26-yard line, chewing up seven seconds of game clock in the process—and removing the two-minute warning as a second timeout of sorts for Chicago.

After the game, Johnson confirmed to reporters that the kick did not go according to plan.

"Yeah, the intent was for the ball to go out of the end zone," Johnson said.

Johnson then went on to add that the Bears did briefly consider an onside kick, but that he ultimately felt kicking the ball out of the end zone would have given them the best chance to win.

"Yeah. It did. We felt if we had kicked it out of the end zone and got the three-and-out that we got, we would get the ball back with about 56 seconds," Johnson said.

Instead, the Bears' defense got the three-and-out they wanted, utilizing its last timeout in the process, and got the ball back with just nine seconds left. Had Santos kicked the ball out of the end zone, would have the game had ended differently?

No one can say for sure. But having extra time as they attempted to get into field goal range for a potential game-tying kick certainly wouldn't have hurt the Bears.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Ben Johnson Confirms Bears Had Planned for Crucial Kick to Go Very Differently.

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