Bear Digest

Cosmic justice in Ravens' 'wrist slap' for violation against Bears

Analysis: The Ravens' slight penalty for their false injury report against the Bears probably evens things out between the two franchises.
Gene Chamberlain|
Quarterback Tyler Huntley scrambles away from T.J. Edwards and Grady Jarrett last Sunday in a 30-16 Bears loss.
Quarterback Tyler Huntley scrambles away from T.J. Edwards and Grady Jarrett last Sunday in a 30-16 Bears loss. | Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Perhaps the NFL looked at how the Bears made Tyler Huntley look like Lamar Jackson last Sunday and simply said, "who cares?"

The NFL gave the Baltimore Ravens only a $100,000 fine for reporting Jackson as a full participant in last Friday's practice when he had only quarterbacked the scout team.

Their inability to properly characterize the participation as a limited practice on the injury report instead of how he actually had practiced sent betting lines spinning around like a top.

It definitely meant the Ravens had an unfair competitive advantage until at least Saturday, when NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported their transgression.

However, that advantage apparently didn't amount to much because the Bears couldn't stop Huntley when he wound up starting against them.  He went 17 of 22 for 186 yards and a touchdown with eight runs for 53 yards, including a 29-yarder. The Ravens won 30-16 and covered whatever point spread bettors wanted to use.

The Ravens had characterized it as a miscommunication and honest mistake. Apparently the league agreed.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk characterized the $100,000 penalty as a  "slap on the wrist."

A $100,000 fine for an entire franchise is probably more like a pat on the wrist than a slap.

This was a real chance for the NFL to send a message to teams about the importance of accurate injury reports after years when many coaches have been cavalier with rules governing player classifications.

The entire situation looked even more seamy in the wake  of the NBA gambling scandal.

No one seemed to care, though.

Florio pointed out that the league treated it like "...less than an accounting error." He pointed out how the 49ers lost a fifth-round pick and also had a fourth-round pick in 2024 four spots for a salary cap clerical error when no strategic advantage for anyone was involved.

Yet, this error had the potential to harm the league's reputation involving actual competitive advantages and also in gamblers' eyes. And nothing much was done.

It's typical of how quickly the league office like to brush controversy aside. By doing things this way, it's easy for Bears fans to wonder if the reports of Joe Flacco's condition by the Bengals are even accurate.

Why not lie about it? You'd only have to pay $100,000.

They're acting in the NFL more and more like the NBA every day. They missed an opportunity to be tough when it comes to any possible impropriety.

Perhaps the best way Bears fans can look at it is it's cosmic justice.

It was 2011 during the draft when former Bears GM Jerry Angelo agreed to trade the 29th overall pick and a fourth-rounder to Baltimore for the 26th pick so that he could draft tackle Gabe Carimi. The deal fell through because the Bears failed to properly report it in time to the league. No harm, no foul since the Bears got Carimi anyway.

Only, it wasn't no harm, no foul because while they were talking about the trade and agreed to it, the draft shot clock ran out on the Ravens. They didn't get the trade because of Bears incompetenc. The league penalized them by moving them back a pick behind Kansas City. It was the Bears' fault, an honest one but theirs just the same.

Whether that was a good pick by the Bears is immaterial here. It obviously wasn't a good pick for Round 1, but the penalty of moving down was a tough pill for the Ravens to swallow when it wasn't their fault.

The league didn't care why it happened. They just penalized the Ravens by dropping them down a slot. The Ravens still got the player they wanted in the end, DB Jimmy Smith. He played 11 years for them.

Still, it left a bad taste with the Ravens then, but they had to simply look the other way after the lack of a penalty on the Bears.

Well, just consider it all even now.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.