The Bears vs Eagles "fumble"
 

As a former football referee, the call was right IF the NFL ref who called it incomplete did NOT follow up his signal with a whistle signalling dead ball. It's like salt and pepper, signal at chest level, then above the head and then an audible whistle.

If he did use his whistle the ball is dead...it would be in this case an inadvertent whistle which stops the clock and kills the ball where it was last touched. His incomplete catch signal could be over ruled and it was at least where video repay is legal. But an inadvertent whistle can not be over ruled from pee wee to the pros.

None of the talking heads have brought this fact up. So IMHO, BOTH calls on the field and in the replay booth were incorrect.....

So if someone has a Twitter account, you might get some interesting feedback on the whistle use if any.

Didn't see it. I hate replay review

I think/thought they commented that since no one recovered the loose ball, that the play was "incomplete" there fore had to be returned to last spot, regardless if the replay showed it was a catch?

That's my point....even if an Eagle or Bear picked it up. It was already dead because of the whistle.

Plus not one rule wonk discussed that issue.

I was thinking about this replay stuff the other day...how many games have gone the wrong way because of bad calls before they had the review deal? Throw out the record books and start over. I was also thinking that MLB should call balls and strikes based on that little box they show on the TV screen rather than some arbitrary umpire. My 2 cents.

^^^ The strike zone has always been a joke....set up some lasers and done! I like how replays have eliminated some really bogus calls of yesteryear....but it's gone too far imo. Is his toe on the white or green "blade of grass" :(. The "flow" of games matter....

My thought is: both teams were not focused on the situation. Some were celebrating in the end zone when a ball was flopping around on the field.

The goal of the defender is to deny a catch.

Stripping the ball is also a goal after the receiver catches it.

Once the ball popped out, treat it as a fumble/strip.

Run over a touch it.

The play was called dead because neither team was paying attention to the possibility that it was still alive.

The play was reviewed and the conclusion was the players ignored the ball and it went dead because of their inaction.

Lack of focus and discipline in the moment.

Bears receiver should have picked it up and walked into the end zone for the touchdown.

Today they wouldn’t be bashing the kicker

...but he would still suck none the less ;)

Parkey to the Bears is Bartman to the Cubs. That fades in time. .

A very good game - I enjoyed it. looks like the ball was tipped. The national announcers said wind was not a factor but apparently there was a wind from left to right. The Bears should have won. Oh well, onto other things.

Even with replay review there is still controversy.

Definitely one of the most bizarre replay calls I've ever seen.

You'd think if it was caught and stripped and the ref mistakenly blew the whistle, they'd treat it like it was fumbled out of bounds, not like the catch never happened.

The issue is that there was no recovery of the ball.

The pass was ruled incomplete, in real time, on the field. For that ruling to be overturned, there must be conclusive video evidence that the ball was caught, then fumbled, then either recovered or go out of bounds. That's how it's stated in the NFL rule book.

Once the ref blew the whistle, the play was over, ruled an incomplete pass. An on-field ruling cannot be overturned unless there is convincing video evidence to justify a change. Since there was no recovery, the play should never have been reviewed because it would be impossible to overrule the on-field decision due to the fact there was no recovery or out of bounds of the ball.

Odd, yes, but reading the NFL rules, the final ruling was correct. Incomplete pass called on the field, does not qualify for review (even though it was), so play stands.

The play went dead because the referee (to the left, nearest the play) signalled it was an incomplete pass and a dead ball, not because the teams weren't paying attention. I have seen more than once where the players thought the ball was dead but no whistle came so a player comes and picks up the ball and the play continued.

This was clearly an official's mistake. He should not have declared the ball dead. It was premature.

That is not how it works.

The referee immediately called it incomplete.

It's a bit hard to see, but go to 2:11 here:


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Hard for the referee, it looked incomplete (event he announcers took a minute to clue in), and the referee can't let them fight over the ball when he thinks it is dead.

Agree^^, you've got it backwards.

Neither team was not paying attention because the play had been ruled "dead" when the ref blew the whistle.

One thing that can be taken to the bank from this. From now on, on every incomplete pass where the ball remains in bounds, some player will pick it up.

I agree that the rule was correctly interpreted, but the rule itself is problematic. The result of a catch should not be as if the catch never happened. The result of a fumble should not be as if the fumble never happened. If the ball had rolled out of bounds instead of the official wrongly blowing his whistle, this injustice never would have happened.

As for the end of the game, it's not like the Bears threw away the best kicker in the league or anything...

https://usatbearswire.files.wordpres...0&h=600&crop=1

You guys shoulda seen the fogbowl. This is karma. I feel so bad for Parkey, given that now its clear the ball was touched, and he took crap. Not that we Philly guys are sorry he tore his groin and is gone, although he was a different kicker before that.

On the other hand, good on Goose Island for this:

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/chicago-bears-cody-parkey-finds-support-in-brewery-come-out-and-prove-us-wrong

I was wondering where they were gonna put the goal post. I don’t recall there being 160’ of wide open free space in that neighborhood.