Should Matt Patricia Have Decided to Punt in the Fourth Quarter?

There is plenty to talk about in the fourth-quarter collapse by the Lions against the Bears Sunday.

Perhaps one of the biggest gripes among fans regarding Detroit head coach Matt Patricia’s decision-making was him opting to attempt a 55-yard field goal late in the game.

Ultimately, kicker Matt Prater hit the right upright, and the kick was no good.

After the miss, it set up the Bears with great field position, only down 10 with the ball at Chicago’s 45-yard line and just over four minutes left in the game.

Once the Bears got the ball back, they scored a touchdown in 64 seconds on a pass to receiver Javon Wims.

We all know how the story goes from there.

First off, it is always easy to second guess a play when it doesn't work.

Really, the Lions only had two options -- either punt the football and potentially pin quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and the Bears’ offense deep or attempt the field goal to possibly go up by 13 points.

Considering Prater is one of the best long-ball kickers in the game, it’s fair to have faith in him putting it through the uprights.

Throughout Prater’s career before the 2020 season, he had made 53-of-69 attempts on field goals of over 50 yards.

If he would have made it, it’s highly unlikely this topic would even be considered for discussion.

In saying this, taking a lead from 10 to 13 points still only keeps it a two-score game.

Instead of being up a touchdown and field goal, the Bears would need two touchdowns -- which they ended up doing with relative ease anyway.

You could argue that field position and making the Bears drain the clock on a long drive are more important.

However, for whatever reason, Trubisky had no trouble quickly moving down the field in the fourth quarter.

It’s all hypotheticals, but who is to say that if the Bears did take more of the clock to score their final two touchdowns that the Lions might not have even had a chance to drive down -- and if not for a bad drop in the end zone -- and win the game.

Yes, if Prater would have made the field goal and there still was time for one last Lions drive, only being down one point as compared to four would have also made life much easier on Matthew Stafford.

He would have only needed to get into field-goal range instead of having to score a touchdown.

Overall, it’s an easy play to point out and to criticize the decision.

But, I would have done the same if I was in that position and at the exact time it had to be made.

Trust me, I'm not making any excuses for Patricia.

He deserves a ton of blame for what transpired on the field.

The Lions were extremely close to pulling out a victory, and they let it slip through their hands.

Maybe the game would have gone differently if the Lions just punted the ball away, but you can’t say that for sure.

Who knows, if Prater makes it, the game could have ultimately ended up in the Lions' favor, as well.

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