Bears fans think Vikings got away with illegal hit on Justin Fields
Jordan Hicks had one of the best games of the week with 10 tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery for a touchdown, but some fans think he got away with a penalty when he hit quarterback Justin Fields in the first half.
It was early in the second quarter and the Bears had the ball 3rd-and-goal from the 4-yard line when Fields was flushed from the pocket and sacked by Vikings defensive tackle Harrison Phillips. The questionable hit by Hicks came at the end of the play when Fields was going to the ground and Hicks lunged forward and delivered what appeared to be a helmet-to-helmet hit.
Video of the hit posted to Xwitter by a Chicago Bears podcaster has more than 2.5 million views and hundreds of comments, many of them saying Fields never gets the calls that star quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts get "every" time.
How does Justin Fields not get this call?
— Dave (@dave_bfr) October 15, 2023
This is ridiculous? pic.twitter.com/EqdcSehNED
No flags were thrown on the play – it was the same play Vikings edge rusher Marcus Davenport was injured – and the Bears settled for a 22-yard field goal to tie the game 3-3. Had a flag been thrown, the Bears would've had 1st-and-goal from the 2-yard line.
It's hard to say how much a flag would've altered the game, but in a hypothetical world where a flag was thrown and the Bears finish the drive with a touchdown, they may have trailed 19-17 late in the fourth quarter when backup QB Tyson Bagent went deep from the Minnesota 35-yard line and was intercepted by Byron Murphy to lock up the win for the Vikings.
Bagent threw the interception as Chicago trailed 19-13 with 1:51 to go. If it was 19-17 there's a chance the Bears are taking their time to set up Cairo Santos for a field goal and Bagent never throws deep.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.