DPI Apparently Just a Bears Penalty

If everyone hadn't known otherwise, they would have surely sworn Tony Corrente returned from retirement Thursday to officiate the Bears' 12-7 loss to the Washington Commanders.

It was Corrente and crew, of course, who seemed to find any number of ways to hand the 29-27 victory to the Pittsburgh Steelers over the Bears on Monday Night Football last Nov. 8. It was a game so blatantly one-sided in how it was officiated that Bears fans on social media questioned whether the proliferation of legalized sports gambling was leading to altered NFL outcomes.

You will recall that was the game when one obvious mistake was Corrente flagging Bears edge rusher Cassius Marsh 15 yards for taunting because he dared to look at former teammates on the other sidelines after a crucial third-down sack. Gloating: 15 yards.

The only worse officiating situation than this in Chicago sports history may have been when a hockey ref gave Blackhawks enforcer John Scott a penalty after the big guy, for once, hadn't done a single thing, but was said to have been "thinking" of doing something. It's a true story. At least Scott thinks so.

This is almost a totally different Bears team than last year, a different coaching staff and GM. They even disguised themselves Thursday with orange helmets, but head ref Adrian Hill and crew could still tell it was the Bears.

So that meant influencing the outcome with pass interference and non-pass interference alike. It was DPI if it was the Bears defense in question, but not when it was Washington's defense.

They flagged Jaylon Johnson for pass interference for making contact on a pass so badly overthrown by Carson Wentz at the sidelines that Washington receiver Terry McLaurin could have climbed up on the Bears cornerback's shoulders, leaped and couldn't have touched the ball.

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They flagged Bears cornerback Kyler Gordon for a third-down incident with virtually no contact but what little there was had obviously been initiated from both sides.

Those two penalties on the same drive led to Washington's first field goal, which was huge in a game where points came at a premium. After all, it was Thursday Night Football and no one scores touchdowns in those games.

However, the officials saved the worst intervention or non-intervention for the final drive, one play before Darnell Mooney caught the deciding pass just outside the goal line, after bobbling it in the front of the end zone.

On third down from the 4-yard line, defensive back Darrick Forrest had been beaten badly by wide receiver Dante Pettis in the end zone. All Forrest could do was reach over and swat down Pettis' right arm with a karate chop in clear view of several officials as the Bears receiver started to reach up for the ball.

Pettis nearly fought through the DPI to catch it anyway but couldn't hang onto it.

Then Pettis didn't get the benefit of a flag for one of the more blatant missed defensive pass interference penalties this side of Rams and Saints in the 2018 season's NFC championship game.

Instead of first-and-goal at the 1, Fields had just one more throw to make before a 12-7 Bears loss.

A very good case can be made saying the Bears would never have scored from the 1-yard line if the flag had been thrown. They specialize at failure from this location.

But after so many failed tries from there this season, the odds were they might have fallen forward a few times to cart off the win.

Coach Matt Eberflus said he argued it was pass interference but realized he wasn't going to get a call reversal.

"Yeah, it doesn't matter," he said. "When they (don't) call it there's nothin' you can do at that point."

Asked if he remembered the play after the game, Fields replied, "The PI that we didn't get."

No need to say more and he didn't.

"Yeah," Pettis said when asked if it was pass interference. "It felt like it. I didn't get to see the replay."

Later he did and couldn't believe it.

The bottom line was that the Bears had run off nine plays in the game from the Washington 6-yard line or closer prior to Fields' fateful pass and the no-call, but they never scored a single point.

The Bears certainly had proven that they knew all about failing to score from in close to the goal line and they definitely did not need an official's intervention—or in this case non-intervention—to get in the way of doing what they do best.

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