After the Packers defeated the Bears by blocking a field goal on the final play of the game, Bears coach Matt Eberflus claimed the victory. Packers should have been flagged because “they were clearly on our long snapper.”
The NFL disagrees.
The Bears sent the play to the league for explanation, and the league officiating office notified the Bears the Packers made a clean playaccording to the Chicago Sun Times.
NFL rules prohibit lining up directly across from the long snapper, or making contact with him while his head is still down, immediately after the snap. Packers defensive lineman TJ Slaton was lined up legally, but did make contact with Bears long snapper Scott Daly on the blocked field goal. But the league ruled the Slaton’s contact was legal. Contact can be made with long snappers, as long as it is not made when the long snapper’s head is down immediately after the snap.
If the officials had ruled that Slaton had made illegal contact with Daly while his head was still down, it would have been an unnecessary 15-yard roughness penalty and the Bears would have had another chance to make the field goal. But the officials didn’t throw the flag and the Packers won. And the league office says it was the right decision.
