The Chicago Bears matchup against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving was something special. The game came down to the wire between these two teams in what was a promising matchup on Thanksgiving.
Caleb Williams has a lot more to be thankful for than merely having a great game after throwing for 256 yards and 3 touchdowns. He nearly sustained a season-ending if not a potential career-ending injury early on in the third quarter.
With 10:53 on the clock on a 2nd & 5 play, the quarterback opted to scramble the ball.
At this point, Jack Campbell , the inside linebacker, began to chase him, and it looked like Williams had no intention of sliding or going out of bounds. It seemed like the quarterback wanted to keep the drive alive and perform a spin move or wait for Campbell, who dove to fall and then hurdle over him.
There was no flag called on Jack Campbell and the Lions on the play
However, the quarterback’s plan did not go well for him as Campbell, who had hoped to take him down from the hip, fell short and instead wound up crashing right into his left knee. The play resulted in Williams’ knees visibly snapping as the quarterback fell on them.
The play scared not just the entire Bears sideline but the entire arena. Right after the play ended, offensive tackle Darnell Wright nearly took a swing at Campbell and things got ugly between the two teams for the dirty hit on Williams. However, the officiating crew stepped in and broke things off almost immediately.
There was no penalty called on this play and while that surprised a lot of fans. The reason for that was probably because Campbell jumped off early on and had hoped to bring Williams down by the hip, but the quarterback took two more steps and the angle changed, which put the linebacker in line with his knees.
The Chicago Bears were fortunate that the rookie was able to get back up and then lead the team to its first scoring drive of the game almost immediately, as it was a very risky play.