The Bears had two touchdowns that were negated in the second half, including Allen Robinson’s 21-yard score. And he’s not happy.
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The Chicago Bears have pulled out some close victories to start the 2020 season, their latest coming against the Atlanta Falcons — a 30-26 win — on Sunday.
It was a game where there were several questionable calls that affected the Bears, including two Chicago touchdowns that were negated in the second half.
One of those belonged to receiver Allen Robinson, who had himself a day with 10 receptions for 123 yards and a touchdown. With 6:29 left in the third quarter, Nick Foles found Robinson for a 21-yard strike in the right corner of the end zone. It was another contested situation, where Robinson has shined since joining the Bears. Only, this one didn’t go his way.
Both Robinson and Falcons cornerback Darqueze Dennard had control of the ball before Dennard ripped it away from Robinson. But given Robinson had possession of the ball — and the tiebreaker goes to the receiver — everyone believed the touchdown would stand. Only it didn’t.
It was a play that upset Bears fans everywhere. And Robinson wasn’t happy about the call either, as he let reporters know exactly how he felt after the game.
The play was initially ruled a touchdown, which means that there would’ve needed to be visual evidence to overturn it. So why was it overturned?
“When we look at it, we have to start with what is the ruling on the field,” NFL senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron told reporters. “We can see that it is clear that the process of the catch is not over. Since the process of the catch is not over, the defender still has a right to the ball. And we see that the defender does get the ball and come up with it. Therefore, we reversed it because we had clear and obvious visual evidence that the process of the catch was not over. We changed the ruling to an interception.”
But given that it was a 50-50 ball with both Robinson and Dennard having possession, the rule states that the receiver gets the ball, right?
“Again, he has to complete the process of a catch,” Riveron said. “And we had clear and obvious evidence that he does not complete the process of a catch.”
It’s a call that will be debated, but it doesn’t matter. Because, in the end, the Bears were able to come away with the win and keep their undefeated record alive.
