Kyle Juszczyk’s NFL Fine for Beer-Chugging Celebration Is Lame. Here’s What His Celly Actually Means.

The No Fun League is really living up to its name this season.

Adam Schefter reported on Thursday that 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk has been fined $14,926 for “engaging in an offensive demonstration” during San Francisco’s 35-13 win over the Dolphins last Sunday.

“Your imitation of chugging a beer constituted an offensive demonstration and could reasonably be construed as being in poor taste,” the NFL wrote in its fine letter.

Juszczyk has already appealed the fine, per Schefter. This marks the first time that he’s been fined for the celebration. The San Francisco vet texted Schefter, “And I don’t even drink beer!” upon learning of the news.

Several prominent former and current NFL players have since sided with Juszczyk in light of the NFL’s arguably harsh punishment. “Juszczyk should threaten to counter sue for defamation. How dare the NFL allege false accusations. No way they can prove he was chugging alcohol. He was chugging that ‘juice,’” Jason Kelce wrote on X.

CBS analyst J.J. Watt replied to Schefter’s tweet and wrote: “I’m just going to go out on a limb here… For a guy whose nickname is Juice, could it not be “reasonably construed” that he is drinking… stay with me here… Juice?”

I’m just going to go out on a limb here…

For a guy whose nickname is Juice, could it not be “reasonably construed” that he is drinking… stay with me here… Juice?
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) September 24, 2026

Juszczyk, who has played with the 49ers since 2017, has earned his beloved nickname of “Juice,” a punny ode to how his consonant-heavy last name is pronounced. His X handle is “@JuiceCheck44” and he’s been doing the same chugging celebration since at least 2021, as dated photos from his Instagram account will prove.

Juszczyk himself explained the origins of his juice-chugging celebration during his 2024 guest appearance on the Candlestick Chronicles podcast with Kyle Madison and Chris Biderman.

“I don’t even know how we came up with our official thing,” Juszczyk said, of his creative handshake with Deebo Samuel. “It just kinda happens organically. We just start messing around, and we’re like, ‘Oh wait there’s something there.’ And then with Deebo and I, it ends with pouring the juice out.”

Here’s @JuiceCheck44 on the pod where he talks about how the gesture is “pouring the juice out” https://t.co/FBjJIrjExr pic.twitter.com/6PEliRfQCe
— Kyle, a Madson (@KyleAMadson) September 24, 2026

How ironic: NFL is cracking down on “offensive” beer celebrations with hefty fine on 49ers’ Kyle Juszczyk

Juszczyk isn’t the only one being penalized for appearing to imitate a beer-chugging celebration on the gridiron.

Colts guard Matt Goncalves was also reportedly fined for a similar act: after his teammate Tyler Warren scored a touchdown, Warren handed the football to Gonclaves who pretended to pop off its top as if it were a can of beer and then chug it.

It’ll be interesting to see if Juszczyk’s appeal to the NFL will be successful, given how many on social media are trolling the league for misinterpreting the 49ers fullback’s celebration as a boozy, pro-alcohol statement.

George Kittle got in on the fun, too, sharing a picture of Juszczyk holding a Bud Light with the caption, “He can’t be stopped!! This is before practice! Are you kidding me @JuiceCheck44”

“@NFL this guy is a menace,” Kittle sarcastically added.

What makes the NFL’s latest crackdowns on what they perceive to be beer-chugging celebrations even worse is their well-documented history of boozy sponsorships. Beer and football have gone hand in hand for decades dating back to the 1970s, when Miller Lite launched its “Taste Great, Less Filling” campaign involving a star-studded lineup of ex-NFL players from Dick Butkus to Ray Nitschke to Bubba Smith.

In 1989, Anheuser-Busch locked up Super Bowl alcohol ads for over three decades, holding exclusive rights in the category that prevented rival brewers from buying national alcohol spots during the game’s broadcast. At the time, it was a revolutionary landmark move for big game advertising and led to the first-ever Bud Bowl commercial, now an iconic entry into the Super Bowl’s Advertisement Hall of Fame.

Anheuser-Busch, Miller and Coors Light then took turns partnering with the NFL over the years, with Bud Light (whose parent company is Anheuser-Busch) striking a particularly lucrative deal in 2015 that reportedly shelled out $1.4 billion to the NFL across six years. That’s why Bud Light has been allowed to put out their own sponsored highlights on social media, including their “Bud Light Players of the Game” award, week after week.

“We’ve done the math and wouldn’t be renewing this sponsorship if we didn’t believe this would allow us to sell more beer,” Anheuser-Busch executive Lucas Herscovici said, via the Wall Street Journal.

Thanks to a multi-year renewal agreement signed in late 2021, Anheuser-Busch and its major brand Bud Light will continue to serve as the official beer and hard seltzer sponsor of the NFL through the end of the 2026–27 season.

All this to say: The irony can’t be lost on NFL fans. To add more hilarity to the farce, an ad that immediately followed Juszczyk’s chugging celebration was... a Michelob ULTRA one.

“Your imitation of chugging a beer constituted an offensive demonstration and could reasonably be construed as being in poor taste”

This was one of the ads that followed Juszczyk’s celebration…There also was a FanDuel ad featuring beer drinking in the same commercial break https://t.co/qZndJvEM7M pic.twitter.com/Fl6JJmslz4
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) September 24, 2026

Beer marketing has existed in the NFL for quite a while now, as both sides have historically shared a mutual hearty helping of the pie. It seems just a tad hypocritical for the league to send a message against “poor taste” demonstrations like (supposedly) chugging a beer when they themselves are in bed with longstanding national alcohol sponsors. But hey, who are we to judge?

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