Most NFL penalties are self-explanatory and make sense, whether it’s offsides, false start, or pass interference. But during Sunday afternoon’s game between the Chicago Bears and the San Francisco 49ers, the Bears got hit with a strange penalty that cost them a chance at a field goal.
Rainy conditions forced both teams to get a little creative to deal with the soaking wet field conditions as the turf was flooded with standing water during the game. During warmups, both teams had issues kicking the ball due to the flooded playing surface, so before attempting a long field goal in the second quarter, holder Trenton Gill brought out a towel to try to dry off the field.
Unfortunately for Gill and the Bears, he was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, because apparently it’s illegal to bring a towel onto the field, by rule.
“Bears holder Trenton Gill was just called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for bringing a towel onto the field while trying to dry the kicking area off before a field goal attempt,” NFL Insider Field Yates of ESPN Tweeted on Sunday.
The 15-yard penalty was costly as it took the Bears out of field goal range, forcing them to punt.
The Bears ultimately won the game 19-10, so the penalty didn’t hurt them all that much. But it was still a strange penalty that was costly at the moment.
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