The Chicago Bears haven’t had a bad offseason. They haven’t had a good offseason. They’ve had…an offseason. Nobody is really sure what to make of it. Their two most notable moves to this point involve signing Andy Dalton as their new starting quarterback. That was soon followed by cutting Kyle Fuller due to salary cap problems. So they get a bit better on one side of the ball, only to get worse on the other side.
This has left Bears fans uncertain how to feel, which is just another reason to be annoyed in their minds. If that weren’t enough? George McCaskey was the only owner to vote against expanding to a 17-game season with no explanation why. Just weird. Now the oddities continue as it appears the organization added proposing a rule change to the NFL to their to-do list this month according to NBC Sports.
“One of the strangest endings to an NFL game in recent memory came in 2019, when the Broncos benefited from an obscure rule that allowed them to try a two-point conversion from the 1-yard line thanks to a penalty committed by the Bears, even though the Broncos had also committed a penalty prior to their initial two-point conversion attempt.
Now the Bears want to change that rule.”
For those who don’t remember, here’s how it went down.
With 37 seconds left, Denver scored on a TD pass by Joe Flacco to Emmanuel Sanders to make it 13-12 Bears. The Broncos initially lined up to go for two but were called for delay of game. This put them back to the 7-yard line. So instead they chose to kick an extra point. It ended up sailing wide right, but the Broncos were bailed out by a Buster Skrine offsides call.
However, rather than it being half the distance to the goal as one would expect, Denver was put at the one-yard line. This basically made it appear as if the previous penalty didn’t happen. This is because the NFL doesn’t enforce back-to-back penalties on extra point or two-point conversion attempts. Denver ended up scoring on a second two-point try to take a 14-13 lead. It almost cost Chicago the game if not for a wild last-second rally. Now they’re looking to get that rule changed.
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Chicago Bears certainly haven’t forgotten that game
Probably because they know they got away with one. Though they did win on a 53-yard field goal with one second on the clock, Broncos head coach Vic Fangio disputed that kick ever should’ve happened. He thinks the Bears didn’t have enough time to call their final timeout after Allen Robinson hit the ground on the last offensive play that put Chicago in a position to kick.
This rule proposal seems to suggest the Chicago Bears brass feel they never should’ve been in that position, to begin with. If Denver had been moved from the 7-yard line to the three-and-a-half per normal goal line penalty procedure, would they have still gone for the two-point conversion? It would’ve been a much tougher decision than the one. Not that it matters.
The odds of them running into a similar situation this year are remote.
Given how limited of a backlash would occur? One can expect the NFL would make the change without much resistance. Chicago though has their focus shifted towards the draft with just over three weeks to go. It will be the first time they’re back in the 1st round since 2018. Fans are anxious to see what GM Ryan Pace has planned considering how blah his offseason has been to this point.
