Why Matt Eberflus, Bears will send blocked field goal to NFL for review

Posted by Admin November 18, 2024 NFL

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LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Bears head coach Matt Eberflus had the benefit of time and game tape to figure out what went wrong on the blocked field goal that ultimately felled Chicago in a 20-19 defeat to the rival Green Bay Packers.

After looking at the play, he thought the operation of snap, hold and Cairo Santos’ kick was clean. Without singling out anyone, he said that the Bears needed to be “firmer in the pocket” up front, where the Packers overwhelmed Chicago’s interior line, which allowed Green Bay to get hands up and into the kick’s flight path.

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Eberflus also said the Bears will send the play to the league for review for another element of the play that was integral to Green Bay’s success.

“We’ll turn the play in,” Eberflus said. “Because, obviously, they were on our long snapper. So we’ll turn it and see what the league says from there.”

NFL rules consider a long snapper is a defenseless player when his head is down, and it is an infraction to contact the long snapper in his head or neck area until he is in an upright blocking position. The Bears believe a flag should’ve been thrown.

“We saw them making direct contact with (Scott Daly) right away,”

That seems to happen on the field goal attempt, which should’ve been a penalty. You can see the play here:

The league can state how the play should’ve been officiated, but nothing’s going to change the outcome. The Bears will remain 4-6 after losing two heartbreakers in four weeks of winless football.

At its core, the blocked kick could’ve been avoided with proper technique.

“We’ve all got to be better in protection, and I just think it’s super unfortunate,” said left tackle Braxton Jones, who was blocking on the play but not where the line was breached. “Obviously, you look at some of the things that happened on the play, and that’s unfortunate as well. But we’re not going to point fingers, not going to do any of that. We’re that close to us being in here cheering still probably. And it’s just unfortunate. The biggest thing is looking at the film seeing where each player can be better in protection and going from there. And you can’t really deal with whatever call should have been made or whatever it is. Just executing better.”