Did Matt Eberflus Put His Foot in His Mouth on Field Goal Remark?

After all, Eberflus, himself, had meticulously crafted this situation on the final kick by letting the clock run down.

 "There was not," Eberflus said of giving it consideration. "There was not.

"We feel good about our decision there."

Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower talks to media on Thursday and his spin on the topic will no doubt be of interest. Most likely he'll dive on the grenade for his head coach.

Two former members of the Bears field goal operation were stunned when they heard Eberflus hadn't given thought to this.

"What I don't understand is why are we not talking about putting the ball on the right hash when Cairo kicks every single one of his extra points and most of his field goals when they get in those situations," former Bears kicker Robbie Gould told Bears Den on Marquee Network.

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Gould's long snapper, Patrick Mannelly, told Holmes and Spiegel on the Score that this was an "egregious" error on Eberflus' part or possibly Hightower.

"That's coaching 101," was Mannelly's immediate response when told what Eberflus said in response to Moreano's question.

"So you've gone over this scenerio two or three to four times throughout the entire offseason and regular season so when you're doing that the special teams coach is standing next to the head coach and OC and he's asking—should be asking—all right what's our kick line today with this wind because at Halas Hall it can be windy.

So it will be a different kick line if you're going for the field goal. What hash line today would Cairo prefer? That is always discussed. "I played 16 year in the NFL, was fortunate enough to be in on a lot of game-winning kicks, game-missed kicks, game-blocked kicks, whatever. That is always discussed as soon as you get the ball back. The (special teams) coordinator should click over to the head coach and OC and say 'listen, here's the kick line, going north or south, wherever you're going in Soldier Field or a dome or wherever it is. If you have time, Cairo prefers it on the right hash.' "

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There definitely was time. Eberflus had that timeout in his pocket and the clock was at around 30 seconds and ticking but it was only second down. They could have run the ball to the right and they ran it so it wasn't placed on the right hash.

The one aspect of the complaining not accounted for here is that it wasn't a missed kick. It was blocked. That does make a difference, obviously, but who knows? If Santos is feeling more comfortable off the right hash he might get more immediate lift on the kick, or draw it in a little to avoid the mess inside that the Packers created.

Eberflus was asked Wednesday if he had back the verdict from the league on whether they thought the Packers got away with some illegal tactics by hitting long snapper Scott Daly or by stacking players and pushing along the line, or anything else that might have led to the block.

However, he said the league doesn't get back to teams until Wednesday later in the day.