The Monday Night Football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears was pretty ugly until it wasn’t.
The fourth quarter turned wild as the Bears scored 21 of their 29 points, had to deal with a horrendous taunting penalty in which the referee seemed to purposefully bump into their player, went score-for-score with the Steelers down the stretch, and eventually lost on a 65-yard field goal attempt that sure seemed closer than it actually was.
Here's how short that kick actually was, despite how it originally looked. pic.twitter.com/plneNdycVV
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) November 9, 2021
However, before we got to that 29-27 final score, there was a moment when the score was 26-26 and the outcome was still in doubt. There was a little less than two minutes remaining and the Bears had just driven down the field to tie things up and, presumably, take the lead with the extra point. However, the Steelers jumped offsides on the extra point attempt, which meant the Bears would move a little bit closer for the attempt.
That’s when Monday Night Football announcer Brian Griese made the curious comment that the Bears might want to consider going for two instead of kicking the extra point.
In a tie game.
With less than two minutes left.
What?
“Now you have options. Do you want to go for two here?”
No, Brian. No, you don’t.
To be fair, Griese seems to realize pretty quickly that going for two in this situation literally earns you nothing and only makes it more likely that you won’t convert, which would be catastrophic. But the fact that he briefly considered it was enough to catch the attention of NFL fans whose brains briefly lifted out of their skulls.
Let's laugh once again that Brian Griese thought the Bears should go for two with the game tied.
— Matt Eurich (@MattEurich) November 9, 2021
The Bears kicked the extra point but the Steelers responded with a field goal of their own. The Bears had a chance to win with a 65-yard field goal in the end but it was short. While there were quite a few moments in this game that could have shifted the outcome in the Bears’ direction, we do know that going for two in that instance would not have been one of them.