If the Bears are consistent at one thing, it’s making us chuckle.
The Cowboys got an easy TD because Justin Fields jumped over Micah Parsons
Justin Fields forgot how to down someone.
In their game against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, Bears RB David Montgomery fumbled and the fumble was recovered by Cowboys LB Micah Parsons.
Normally, this results in a player, any player, for the Bears touching Parsons to down him, so he can’t get up and run into the end zone. No, not the Bears. They are simply thinking on a different plane of existence than us mere mortals.
As you can see, QB Justin Fields decides to leap over Parsons instead of actually touching him, meaning that Parsons is still a live ballcarrier. Adding onto this, nobody else on the Bears attempts to down Parsons until he gets up and becomes a true ballcarrier, and he sprints all the way into the end zone for a Cowboys touchdown.
It’s rare that an entire team forgets to down a player on a fumble, but I can’t say that I’m surprised. The rules at the NFL level are just different. In college, when a fumble is recovered by the other team and they hit the ground, the player is immediately ruled down—no advancement of the ball can happen. In the NFL, players can get up and run with the ball if they recover a fumble due to the forward advancement rule.
The Bears seemed to just forget that rule existed, and let Parsons run into the end zone with a convoy of Cowboys. Fields even showed off the vertical jump!
Maybe Chicago should study the rulebook before their next game.
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