Jameson Williams has plenty to be thankful for as the Detroit Lions managed to survive a late push from the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving night to eke out a 23-20 victory. Williams nearly cost the Lions the victory on Thursday with a moment of weakness, as the Lions wide receiver was hit with a taunting penalty that cost them 15 yards and they nearly paid for it when the Bears threatened to snatch the game away from them in the dying embers of the contest.
In the end, all's well that ends well; the Lions move to 11-1 on the year as they continue their dominant run throughout the season. But for a team looking to go all the way and win the Super Bowl, they are holding themselves to a higher standard. Thus, Williams took ownership of his mistake and apologized for it — with quarterback Jared Goff being proud of the 23-year-old for showing accountability.
“That's huge. He's right where he needs to be and he's doing a good job. I know that was a mistake by him. But I'm proud of him the way he handled it. He stood up and took responsibility. We'll move on,” Goff said, per Ben Raven of M Live.
Opposing defenders will now try to get underneath Williams' skin, especially after he showed that he can lose his cool and flip the ball towards the opposition when rattled. But the Lions have made sure to nip this problem in the bud, and with Williams owning up to his mistakes, head coach Dan Campbell knows that this is not something to dwell on moving forward.
“Look, I'll be honest with you, that's already cleaned up. Already cleaned up. We're good. And as a matter of fact, Jamo got right in front of the team a minute ago. Unsolicited. And wanted to apologize to his teammates. That's big, man. That's growth,” Campbell said.
Lions survive late Bears push
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Jameson Williams' penalty did cost the Lions, although the silver lining is that it did not result in a loss. In the same drive that he incurred a penalty, the Lions misfired on a 45-yard field-goal attempt, which prevented them from pushing their lead up to two touchdowns.
The Bears then seized the opportunity, making the Lions sweat by scoring on the subsequent drive; they then pulled out a defensive stop, threatening to score in the end before running out of time on the final play that could have given them the game.
