NFL says Packers blocked game-winning field was legal play, despite Bears’ protests: reports

The Chicago Bears were in position to snap their three-game losing streak last Sunday with kicker Cairo Santos needing to make a 46-yard field goal as time expired to beat the Green Bay Packers. 

Santos’ kick was blocked by Karl Brooks, and the Packers held on for a 20-19 victory, handing the Bears their fourth straight loss and dropping them to 4-6 on the season. 

Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said on Monday they were going to submit the blocked kick to the league, saying he thought there should have been a penalty on the Packers because "they were obviously on our long snapper."

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The NFL rule prohibits players from lining up directly across from the long snapper, or contacting the long snapper while his head is still down immediately after the snap.

Eberflus thought Packers defensive lineman T.J. Slaton made contact with Bears long snapper Scott Daly immediately and that the referees should have thrown a flag.

If officials rule that a defender illegally contacts the long snapper with his head down, it is a 15-yard unnecessary roughness call. The Bears would have had a chance to try another field goal. 

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According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the NFL’s league officiating office informed the Bears that the Packers had made a clean play on the blocked field goal attempt.  

While there was contact between Slaton and Daly, the NFL deemed Slaton’s contact legal, as players are allowed to contact the long snapper as long as his head is not down.

It wouldn’t have mattered if the NFL agreed with Eberflus and deemed the contact illegal, because there are do-overs. The call instead would have been acknowledged as a missed call by the league, and the Bears would still be 4-6. 

The Bears hope to stop their losing streak when they take on the 8-2 Minnesota Vikings in an NFC North battle on Sunday. 

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