Mark 11:31

And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say from heaven; he will say, Why' then did ye not believe him? But should we say, From men - they feared the people: for all verily held John to be a prophet.

These men were shrewd enough to recognize the trap into which they had fallen; therefore, they withdrew after a profession of ignorance on their part! Such an admission from those who loved to proclaim so loudly that "We know!" (John 9:29) is a measure of the defeat which they on that occasion sustained at the hands of Jesus.