SI

Bears Hilariously Botched NFL’s New-Look Kickoff With Brutal Turnover

Velus Jones was responsible for the gaffe against the Titans.

Liam McKeone

Velus Jones fumbles the ball
Velus Jones fumbles the ball /
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The new NFL kickoff, optimistically titled the "Dynamic Kickoff" by the competition committee this offseason, made its regular season debut this week as the 2024 season gets underway. Introduced in an effort to encourage more returns on kickoffs without sacrificing player safety, the new setup hasn't achieved the desired results. In fact, it seems as though it is having the opposite effect. Teams appear more willing than ever to simply boot the kickoff out of the end zone and accept a touchback rather than risk a big return.

Whether by design or mistake, there are still returns though. And sometimes they go terribly wrong, as evidenced by the Chicago Bears' Week 1 contest against the Tennessee Titans.

After the defense gave up a big Tony Pollard run to give the Titans their first touchdown and a 7-0 lead, both teams lined up for the dynamic kickoff. Tennessee booted it to the one-yard line, where Bears wideout Velus Jones was ready to get a return off. Instead, Jones muffed the kickoff and then kicked it directly towards the Titans' kickoff team, resulting in the funniest turnover of the young NFL season.

Behold:

A tough break for Chicago. Also very funny.

There have been myriad mistakes made throughout the preseason on this dynamic kickoff. But none as significant, or amusing, as this. The Bears have officially produced the first Not Top 10 lowlight of the new kickoff era.

Fortunately for Chicago the defense managed to hold up despite the field position Tennessee enjoyed and the Titans came away with three points after recovering the fumble to go up 10-0.

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Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.

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