So remember all the conspiracy theories going back years that NFL referees have some kind of vendetta against the Chicago Bears? It always feels like they don’t make calls in their favor, and way too often, they make them against the Bears, especially in crucial moments. Naturally, most people rolled their eyes, thinking it was just fans being paranoid. There is no such thing as referee bias against specific teams. Yet as actual conspiracies have been proven true in recent years, it seems only fitting that one would be in the NFL.
In this case, it appears Bears fans were not crazy. Analytics expert Warren Sharp recently became aware of something called the “Bears Tax.” It was an ongoing theory that referees were unfairly slanting penalty calls in favor of Chicago’s opponents. Like any logic-driven person, Sharp decided to look into the numbers, expecting to disprove this theory. Instead, he ran into something staggering. Not only have the Bears been abnormally penalized, but this has been going on for a long time.
Over the past four years, Bears opponents have had the fewest penalty yards called against them in the NFL. On the flip side, no team has more net penalty yards against them since 2022, and it’s not even close. Sharp broke down the numbers.
The Chicago Bears finally have some validation.
Granted, penalties alone won’t explain why this team has been bad over the past few years. Still, it is hard enough to win in the NFL when calls are fair. Having the refs constantly make your life harder by tilting everything in favor of your opponents. The question is, why is it like this? The Bears don’t have a bad reputation. They’ve never had incidents with refs aside from the major controversy in Pittsburgh a few years ago. This feels like little more than a group of people having a subconscious need to make life harder for this team.
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For once, it didn’t work last year. Chicago overcame the penalty problems to win the division anyway, going 11-6 and reaching the divisional round of the playoffs. Considering how much of a ratings draw the Bears became, you’d have to think the NFL might start recognizing this team is good for business. Maybe they’ll push the refs to be a bit more lenient with the penalty calls. Too much to hope for? Probably. Barring that, the best thing to do is keep winning in spite of the bias. Make it part of your motivation.
Playing through the refs is nothing new.
Plenty of great teams overcame an obvious crusade from the zebras to still achieve their goals. The Baltimore Ravens (2000) and Seattle Seahawks (2013) both won the Super Bowl despite being the most penalized teams in the NFL in those respective seasons. The Kansas City Chiefs reached the AFC championship in 2018 while dealing with that same problem. It is all about having the mental discipline not to let setbacks distract you from the primary task: winning the football game.
We saw glimpses of that from the Chicago Bears last season. Their iconic victory against the Green Bay Packers in overtime last December happened despite 10 penalties. The same was true of their big revenge victory in Washington, where they had nine called against them. The Bears’ resilience was evident, particularly as the season progressed. They already had beef with the NFL over the compensatory pick issue this year. Knowing the refs are out to get them should only fan the flames.
