Bears substitution trickery foiled when they knocked an official over
Matt Nagy had a plan to catch the Los Angeles Rams off guard. He just didn’t plan on one of his players bowling over an official and wrecking it.
Here’s the scenario: In the final two minutes of the first half, the Chicago Bears sent on the punt team on fourth-and-short. Then, to catch the Rams off guard, the Bears had their offense sprint on the field while their punt team came off. All of a sudden there was a whistle to stop play. The NBC announcers wondered if there was a substitution rule in play.
Chaaaaaossss pic.twitter.com/VlEnrmSTj4
— Jay Busbee (@jaybusbee) December 10, 2018
Weirdly enough, the game was halted because line judge Carl Johnson was knocked over by Bears tackle Bobbie Massie running on the field. Johnson was stationed with his back to the Bears sideline. Massie didn’t seem to run into Johnson purposely, but play still had to be stopped because an official was on the ground.
NBC officiating analyst Terry McAulay explained that it wasn’t going to work as intended anyway.
On the 4th down punt substitution, Chicago would not have been allowed to quick snap. The rules allow the defense to complete their substitutions to include getting everyone in position for the punt. The LJ was correct to shut everything down when he got knocked down. #LARvsCHI
— Terry McAulay (@SNFRules) December 10, 2018
Nagy was about as angry as you’ll see a coach. He could be seen on a replay seemingly screaming at Johnson, “That’s on you.” However, McAulay said the right call was made. Play needed to be stopped with the official on the ground.
Ref down!pic.twitter.com/40vZvpHXW2
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) December 10, 2018
The Bears decided to punt after the break in play, once they didn’t have the element of surprise anymore.
You can watch football a long time and not see that call made again. Nagy was surprised, to say the least.
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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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