The Chicago Bears received tough news this week when it was revealed that safety Jaquan Brisker had suffered a concussion in the team’s win over the Carolina Panthers. He didn’t travel with the team and is out for this Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Head coach Matt Eberflus didn’t seem too happy about the situation, but not for the reasons people thought. Yes, he didn’t like Brisker getting injured, but it was the way it happened that really made him frustrated.
After reviewing the film, it was clear Brisker had excellent tackling form on the play where he hit tight end Tommy Tremble to force a fumble. His shoulder was forward, and his head out of the way. However, the same wasn’t true of Tremble, who clearly led head-first, resulting in a thunderous helmet-to-helmet collision. Eberflus felt a penalty should’ve been called on the play for unnecessary roughness by the tight end, a result made possible by a recent rule change. The refs did nothing.
On Saturday, the NFL admitted they got it wrong by fining Tremble a whopping $17,083 for the uncalled penalty.
Jaquan Brisker at least gets some vindication.
While he can’t do anything about the injury, he at least got the forced fumble, the win, and confirmation from the league that a penalty should’ve been called. Hopefully, the Bears can survive the upcoming game without him. They will also be without cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, who suffered a calf injury in practice on Thursday. This presents a challenge for the Bears’ defense, which faces a talented Jaguars passing attack led by Trevor Lawrence, Brian Thomas Jr., and Christian Kirk. Having Jaquan Brisker would be nice. His versatility creates all sorts of matchup advantages. Alas, these are the sorts of challenges good teams must get through if they want to compete.
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I’d send the offending player to “fundamental school”. 2 weeks out, 4 weeks if it’s blatantly intentional. Have a staff of vets from the player’s committee and league to walk the player through fundamentals of tackling, have them do some charity visits to spinal cord injury facilities. There would be no gray areas, or soft vacation. I’d be a hardass, it’s a punishment as well as education. They’d have to comply to get back on the field. I love a physical game of football. I do not want headhunters in the game. It’s not like hockey. If the safety is… Read more »
I’ve often thought that if the NFL really wants to clean up illegal plays that lead to injury, issuing fines after the fact are not going to have the desired result. Instead, if you follow the logic that certain plays or techniques have been banned because they have a high likelihood of causing an injury, then go ahead and fine a guy, and certainly throw a flag to penalize his team, but most importantly, if you injure another player by using an illegal technique, then beginning immediately, you are suspended for as long as the player you hurt remains out.… Read more »
Prolly the same ref who thought Tyson was eating a funnel cake during the Holyfield fight.
Maybe next time Eberflus will actually stick up for his players on the field by confronting the ref directly when the flag isn’t called. It would be a nice change.