What Were They Thinking: Bears implode; Harbaugh and Kelly try to outdo each other

What Were They Thinking is a weekly post where you get to relive the foolish decisions from the week that was in the NFL. Enjoy the insanity. 

Jay Cutler loses track of time

The Chicago Bears shot themselves in the foot several times in Sunday's loss to the Green Bay Packers, and Jay Cutler got the party started late in the first half.

With the ball at the Green Bay nine-yard line and nine seconds to play in the second quarter, Cutler and the Bears were out of timeouts. Still, that should be plenty of time for one shot to the end zone before kicking a chip-shot field goal if you don't score. As long as you don't complete a pass short of the goal line, of course. 

Cutler connected with tight end Martellus Bennett, who was tackled at the one. Without a timeout, there simply wasn't enough time to spike the ball and get a stoppage, let alone run the field-goal team out there. 

In that situation the throw has to go to a receiver in the end zone, no matter what. Cutler didn't do so, and cost his team three important points. 

Jon Bostic's ill-timed penalty

Flash forward to late in the third quarter, where Green Bay was up 31-17 and lining up for a 23-yard field goal. 

Inexcusably, Bears linebacker Jon Bostic was called for defensive holding on the play, giving the Packers a new set of downs. Aaron Rodgers promptly hooked up with Randall Cobb for a touchdown to make it 38-17, while ending any hope of a Chicago comeback. 

Bostic's penalty made no sense. Defensive holding? You could somewhat understand an offside call in the sense that he was doing his darndest to block the kick, but what is to be gained by holding on that play. The chances of Mason Crosby missing from 23 yards are almost nonexistent, so Bostic shouldn't be doing anything out of the ordinary that could draw the officials attention. 

The flag cost them four points and after you add that to the three they squandered in the first half, the Bears essentially gave the Packers a free touchdown on Sunday.

Marc Trestman is not to be outdone 

Just to make sure he wasn't being shown up in the foolish department by his players, Bears head coach Marc Trestman put in a bid of his own early in the fourth quarter. 

When it looked as though Tramon Williams was awarded a questionable interception of Jay Cutler, Trestman wasted no time tossing his challenge flag on the field like he was throwing out the first pitch at the World Series. 

Of course, as seemingly everybody but NFL head coaches now know, you can't challenge a turnover as it is automatically reviewed. It ultimately was looked at and overturned, but Trestman's forgetfulness cost his team a timeouty. 

Anytime you are being compared to Jim Schwartz when it comes to coaching decisions, it's not a good thing. 

Saints' ludicrous fake punt

There's not much that needs to be said here.

Down 14 with under seven minutes to go, everyone in the stadium would have expected a fake punt in this situation. But just to make sure there was no confusion about what the New Orleans Saints were planning to do, they ran a crazy motion with Travaris Cadet in front of punter Thomas Morstead before the snap. 

At that point, even the most absent-minded defender would have known something was up. 

I'm not sure what would make Sean Payton think he would have a better chance of converting a fourth-and-nine with the ball in Morstead's hands rather than perennial Pro Bowler Drew Brees's. But what do I know?

Trey Burton costs the Eagles 19 yards

In the first of a few head-scratching plays between the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, reserve tight end Trey Burton ruined what looked to be a brilliant punt by Donnie Jones.

Late in the first quarter, Jones sailed a beautiful 61-yard punt down to the San Fran one-yard line. However, in Burton's haste to down the punt, he lost control of his body and touched the ball on the one with his knee inside the 49er end zone, resulting in a touchback. 

The worst part was the fact the ball didn't even need to be touched. Jones put backspin on it and it was coming to rest perfectly on the one-yard line. Burton simply could have waited for it to stop, picked it up and handed it to the official. 

Instead of being backed up and staring at a 99-yard field, the 49ers caught a break and took advantage for a touchdown drive.

It's worth mentioning that Burton blocked a punt earlier that resulted in an Eagles touchdown, but he was careless here. The hidden yardage you don't see in a box score can often have a huge impact on the game. 

49ers throw away a timeout

There are many different ways to waste a timeout needlessly and the 49ers added to that list Sunday.

Looking at a fourth-and-two at the Eagles 43-yard line with the score 23-21 in their favor early in the fourth, the 49ers lined up to go for it. Very quickly, it was apparent that San Francisco had no intention of running a play and was simply trying to draw the Eagles offside. 

This happens frequently and usually you have nothing to lose, as from that position on the field you can just take a delay-of-game penalty if the opposition doesn't jump. Backing up punter Andy Lee five yards in this situation would only give him more room to pin Philadelphia deep. 

Instead, Colin Kaepernick called a timeout, leaving the 49ers with just one remaining the rest of the way in a close game. 

Although the blunder is Kaepernick's, Jim Harbaugh isn't blameless here, either. If he wants to try and draw the Eagles offside, he needs to make sure his quarterback knows just to let the play clock expire instead of burning a timeout. 

At least we got to see a classic Harbaugh meltdown before San Francisco eventually punted.  

Chip Kelly thinks too far outside the box

When it came to the most pivotal decision in this game, Chip Kelly got it wrong. 

In the middle of the fourth with San Fran still ahead 23-21, the 49ers threw incomplete on a third-and-three play at the Eagles 24-yard line. However, tight end Derek Carrier was called for offensive pass interference. 

Kelly had to decide whether to decline and make it fourth down, or accept, making it third-and-13 from the 34. There really shouldn't be a decision here, as declining it is the logical call. In a one-score game, giving your opponent another crack at extending the drive deep in your territory and potentially going ahead by two scores makes no sense.

Wouldn't you know it, Kelly accepted it and Kaepernick ran for a first down on the next play. 

Kelly's thinking here was probably to push them back and out of field-goal range, but it was too risky. If he declined, there's a very good chance Phil Dawson does make a 41-yard field goal, but you're still only down one score with plenty of time left in the game. 

By accepting, you are increasing the risk the 49ers could score a touchdown and go up by nine points. With that amount of time left, overcoming a two-score lead would be very difficult for the Eagles. 

San Francisco ultimately ended up kicking a field goal anyway at the conclusion of that drive. But thanks to Kelly, accepting the penalty and a subsequent third-down conversion, they were able to chew nearly three more minutes off the clock and held on for a 26-21 win.

Kelly has made a living with his outside the box thinking, but that was one idea that should have stayed inside it.