DETROIT – The Bears simply couldn’t believe what had just happened on Thursday in Detroit, how a valiant comeback attempt fell apart in such a strange way.

They were on the cusp of tying or beating the NFL’s best team with a furious fourth-quarter comeback. They ended up with a sixth straight loss accompanied by a sense of bewilderment and anger and distress following a 23-20 loss to the Detroit Lions here at Ford Field.

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We won’t recap every detail of what led the Bears to walk off the field having lost a game with a timeout remaining that could’ve been used to double their shots at the end zone or into game-tying field-goal range. They ended up only using one play and no timeouts over the last 36 seconds, to the astonishment of many players.

So much so that receiver Keenan Allen didn’t know the game was over until the Lions started rushing the field.

“I’m like, ‘Damn, (what are) they doing? What’s going on?’” Allen said. “I didn’t realize the time had ran out. I’m like, “the time was running the whole team we didn’t’ … and then you look up and you realize we got a timeout. And it’s like, ‘Ah…’ yeah.

So, Keenan, does it make loss sting a bit more?

“Oh, absolutely.” 

Before you think that’s odd, most players are locked into the next play, and not everyone can see or is focused on the clock.

Cole Kmet didn’t initially know the game was over, either. The star tight end understood the logic of saving a timeout for fourth down, but the execution didn’t ring true for many in the locker room.

“We came in here and guys are pretty PO’d,” Kmet said. “It’s tough. There are things as players we all could have done better at in this game.

“…We’ve gone now against three division opponents, three really good ones and I think all three we could have beat. It’s a tough spot to be in right now and just unfortunate to see where we’re at.”

The Bears are at 4-8, with the season essentially flushed away despite being right in the think of so many losses. The last three really hurt, considering they were all against the NFC North. They could’ve beat Green Bay but got a field goal blocked. They sent Minnesota to overtime and couldn’t finish. Then they nearly completed a furious comeback against the Lions, only to watch it slip away due to poor clock management.

Several Bears players said they were surprised that Matt Eberflus didn’t call a time out in the waning seconds, to at least give the Bears two shots to enter scoring range.

DJ Moore said more than once he expected a timeout in that instance.

“Uh, yeah. At the same time, we didn’t (get one),” he said. “Had a call, (we were) already on the field so there really wasn’t a timeout to be called once we got the call on the field. It is what it is.”

That didn’t mean Moore was dealing well about how the game ended.

“You’re just like, ‘What the hell?’ Nah, it’s like ‘What the bleep?’ but it is what it is,” Moore said. “It’s not ‘it is what it is,’ but we’ve got to find a way to win. We keep coming back in these games and while having time to actually win the game, and we just s–t the bed.”

We normally say there was frustration after tough losses, but not this time. The Bears were angry about what took place.

“Yeah, it was tough,” Allen said. “I feel like we did enough as players to win the game.”

All the losing is starting to weigh on the locker room’s elder statesmen.

“I mean, out of me and Jaylon (Johnson) now have been here for five years now,” Kmet said.”I feel like we’ve got the guys in here. We’ve been close to it, and close hasn’t been good enough yet . That’s what’s so frustrating. We go out here feeling really good about going against that opponent and how we matched up, honestly. I know it was a slow first half, but I still feel like we had the guys to beat that team. But it’s upsetting. It’s very frustrating.”