Bear Digest

Bears Claim New Rule Emphasis Will Not Catch Them Napping

Matt Eberflus says he brought the alignment rule emphasis for offensive lines to the attention of his team, along with others.

Gene Chamberlain

Matt Eberflus tries to catch the attention of an official for a timeout last year against Kansas City.
Matt Eberflus tries to catch the attention of an official for a timeout last year against Kansas City. / Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
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If the Bears commit a bunch of silly alignment infractions the way the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens did in Thursday night's NFL season opener, it won't be for lack of attention to detail.


Coach Matt Eberflus said he already brought up the rule emphasis officials have this year to the team on Friday, after seeing the way official Shawn Hochuli's crew threw flags repeatedly in the Thursday night opener.

It's an attempt by the league to keep offensive lines from having too great of an advantage by making the tackles line up even with the waist of the center. It was already a rule but will now be tightly enforced.

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"We brought it up–this is our situations day (at practice) for the team meeting," Eberflus said. "I go through and pull off (film of)  situations from preseason, from the game last night and we talk about it. We do about a 15-minute deal there. It's part of the smart phase of our deal."

This rule emphasis was pointed out by officials ahead of time, although it's a mystery why officials need a rule "emphasis" when they're supposed to be calling all rules according to the book in the first place.

"The league sent us a tape about the illegal formation–that's what it was called last night–the tackles have to break the waist of the center. If you're too far back, typically, they give you a warning, but they are starting to call that. That's going to be a point of emphasis."

It's not the only issue officials decided to get tough with this year.

"The other thing that is going to be a point of emphasis is the shaving of the motion with the receivers," Eberflus said. "When they come in jet motion or regular motion, they have to make sure they are still staying horizonal, not going vertical towards the line of scrimmage before the ball is snapped. We talked to our guys about that. Showed them some clips on that so they are informed."

The Bears once had a ridiculous penalty call on this in a playoff game but officials in recent years have seemed to let the rule slide, particularly on jet sweeps and end-around plays.

In the 1979 playoffs, the Bears had the chance to go up two touchdowns on Philadelphia and Walter Payton broke off an 85-yard run in the second half. But officials flagged Brian Baschnagel for moving toward the line of scrimmage when he had gone in motion, wiping out the run. Replays showed only lateral movement by Baschnagel.

From that point on, the game turned and the Eagles went on to win 27-17.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher 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.