People can’t say the Chicago Bears coaching staff aren’t able to take advantage of learning opportunities. At least that’s the way Mitch Trubisky put it during an interview with NFL Network on Wednesday. By now most casual sports fans have heard about it. The infamous blunder by Cleveland Cavaliers veteran JR Smith in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
For those who don’t quite recall or happened not to see it, here’s a quick recap. The game was tied with just 4.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Cleveland missed their initial shot to take the lead but Smith battled for an offensive rebound. It gave the Cavs another chance to steal a win on the road. Then things got stupid.
Smith apparently forgot the game was tied and rather than take another shot to score, he dribbled away the remaining seconds, sending it to overtime. After the sequence teammate LeBron James was seen shouting at him in exasperation, unable to believe what just happened. He knew a golden opportunity had been wasted.
The Warriors proved that by pulling away to a 124-114 victory. Smith proceeded to become the butt of several memes and jokes from the online community. It seems though that Chicago’s coaching staff saw a different benefit from the event.
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Chicago Bears coaching staff used Smith blunder to teach clock management
One of the underrated qualities the good teams in the NFL have is an ability to manipulate the clock to their advantage. They take snaps right before the play clock expires, they drain the clock when they have a lead and they manage the time they have left wisely when behind. This has been a persistent problem for the Bears in recent years. Knowing this, head coach Matt Nagy and his staff decided to use Smith’s mistake as a perfect learning tool according to Trubisky.
Cavs fan Mitch Trubisky just told us @nflnetwork that the Bears watched JR Smith’s Game 1 brain cramp as a team as a teaching moment for clock management.
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) June 6, 2018
Last season the Bears ranked a distant 28th in average time of possession. They held the ball for just 28:27 per game. By contrast, the world champion Philadelphia Eagles stood first overall at a healthy 32:48. Controlling the ball and clock management may not sound flashy but it’s an integral part to winning in this league. Don’t believe it? Here’s another nugget.
In 2006, when the Bears reached the Super Bowl they were 13th in time of possession. The team that ended up beating them for the championship, the Indianapolis Colts? They were 12th. So don’t say that this chance to learn a lesson about it isn’t important.
