After being ultra-aggressive throughout Sunday night's playoff game and passing on the opportunity to kick multiple field goals in Chicago's divisional round loss, Bears head coach Ben Johnson opted to kick the extra point to tie instead of going for the win in regulation against the Rams.
The Bears would go on to lose 20-17 after a Kam Curl interception set Los Angeles up to drive down the field and kick the game-winning FG.
But some felt the team not stepping on their opponent while they were down was a mistake — especially considering the all-time play his quarterback had just made with 18 seconds left.
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Ben Johnson says he 'thought about' going for two
Speaking to reporters after the fact, Johnson admitted he thought about going for two. However, he felt his teams chances would've been better served in overtime given the situation.
“Thought about it,” Johnson said during his postgame press conference. “Probably what played a little bit of a factor was our goal-to-go situations hadn’t gone very clean. Our inside the five plan hadn’t worked out quite like we’d hoped. I just felt better about taking our chances there in overtime.”
Rex Ryan crushes Johnson for not attempting 2-point conversion
On Monday's "Get Up," ESPN's Rex Ryan was highly critical of Johnson's decision. Even going as far as saying that the coach will regret it for the rest of his life.
"100% they should've gone for two," Ryan exclaimed. "Why? You had all the momentum in the world. Caleb had just took the air out of the balloon with the Rams with that one-in-a-million play. I've watched football for 50 years — never seen anything like that. That defense was completely on their heels. They're gassed. They're sitting there like 'What the hell are we doing?'"
"Ben's the most aggressive guy of all-time," he added. "He went for it a million times in this game. Are you kidding me? Go win the damn thing. He made a mistake, and he'll regret not going for two the rest of his life."
It's definitely a decision that a lot of people are questioning given Johnson's reputation. But had there not been some miscommunication between Caleb Williams and DJ Moore in OT, the Bears might've reached their first NFC Championship since 2010.