The Bears were 13 yards away from taking a late — and likely decisive — lead over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night.

Bears head coach Ben Johnson felt good calling a hook-and-lateral play with no timeouts and 21 seconds remaining — something he often used as the Detroit Lions’ offensive coordinator but hadn’t yet in Chicago. The play had gone well in practice, and Johnson believed the Bears could win a game with it.

On second-and-10 from the 49ers’ 13-yard line, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams fired a perfect pass to rookie tight end Colston Loveland, who lateraled the ball to streaking running back D’Andre Swift. The 49ers were in the right coverage to defend the play, and kept Swift out of the end zone.

After Williams clocked the ball with four seconds left, the Bears had time for one more play to win it. They previously had excelled in such situations, with a stinging failure against the Green Bay Packers in Week 14 one of the few exceptions.

What came next wasn’t a marvel of execution. Johnson admittedly was late getting in the play call. The Bears then lined up in the wrong formation, without time on the play clock to fix it.

Williams had to made the most of the situation. The 49ers brought two rushers, but one came free, flushing him from the pocket as other 49ers descended. He had no choice but to let the ball go, and his pass hit the turf before it reached intended target Jahdae Walker.

Time had expired. The 49ers won 42-38.

After watching the game tape, Johnson didn’t find fault with Williams in that moment.

“I think there was a little bit more chaos than what you would like in a situation like that,” Johnson said in a Monday press conference. “I think Caleb did what he could to make chicken salad out of it.”

[WATCH: Ben Johnson breaks down Bears’ final play vs. 49ers]

Even so, Williams believes he should’ve done better in that instance.

“We just had to try and make something out of nothing in that situation,” Williams said Sunday night after the game. “We had a shot with all of that going on, with time running down, us misaligned, and things like that. We had a shot, and I just have to give my guys a shot in that situation.

“I haven’t obviously gone back and watched it yet, but I think I ended up dirting the ball and didn’t get my legs into it. I just need to put the ball in the end zone in that moment, even if it’s a pick or incomplete at that point. But I can’t dirt the ball.”

[READ: Five Bears whose stock went up or down in NFL Week 17 loss to 49ers]

That left the Bears bothered by the result. No silver linings were found in taking the 49ers to the wire. And the game didn’t come down to that one play, even with so much emphasis on its finality.

“We really needed to line up in the right formation,” Johnson said, “and get the execution of it down to have a chance, in my opinion.”

[READ: Bears report card: Team grades in NFL Week 17 loss to 49ers]

The Bears typically are clutch in those situations, and they can be effective even when a situation breaks down. That didn’t happen on this play.

“Confidence is always going to be there with how we work,” Swift said. “We just came up short today, and it never comes down to one play. We made mistakes offensively throughout the game that kind of put us in that position. We knew we were going to be in a shootout. We just have to score more points than they do.”

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