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After the Packers beat the Bears by blocking a field goal on the last play of the game, Bears coach Matt Eberflus claimed the Packers should have been flagged because “they were obviously on our long snapper.”
The NFL disagrees.
The Bears sent the play into the league for an explanation, and the league’s officiating office informed the Bears that the Packers made a clean play, according 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 following the snap. Packers defensive lineman T.J. Slaton was lined up legally but did make contact with Bears long snapper Scott Daly on the blocked field goal. But the league ruled that the Slaton’s contact was legal. Contact can be made with long snappers as long as it’s not when the long snapper’s head is down immediately following the snap.
If the officials had ruled that Slaton had illegally contacted Daly while his head was still down, it would have been a 15-yard unnecessary 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 that was the correct call.