Lions appear to get screwed on botched intentional grounding ruling

CHICAGO — The Detroit Lions lost 28-13 against the Chicago Bears because of a comedy of errors on Sunday at Soldier Field. Dropped passes, pre-snap penalties, post-snap penalties, turnovers, you name it, they probably did it.

That being said, they were on the short end of what appears to be a blown call at the inflection point of the game. And Julian Okwara is saying what we’re all thinking.

“I thought it was (intentional grounding),” the Detroit Lions edge rusher said. “But it’s up to the refs to make that call.”

With the game still tied 13-13 late in the third quarter, Okwara hit Bears quarterback Justin Fields on a third-and-long play. Fields lost the ball as he tried to get rid of it, and the play continued as if it were a fumble.

After some discussion, the officials ruled (correctly) that Fields was trying to pass the football and there was no fumble.

The problem is there was no intended target in sight. After some more discussion about that too, the officials ruled (seemingly incorrectly) that intentional grounding did not occur because Fields was hit while throwing the football.

The NFL rulebook clearly states if the quarterback was hit before he began to pass, then the play should be penalized as intentional grounding. And Okwara definitely hit Fields before the quarterback began to pass.

From the rulebook: “When a passer is contacted by an opponent before beginning his throwing motion, the direction of the pass is the responsibility of the passer, and intentional grounding rules apply.”

Head coach Dan Campbell declined to comment on the play after the game, but was clearly upset by the ruling.

“I don’t want to answer that,” he said. “I don’t. I have no answer to that.”

Campbell’s ire is understandable. Not only were the Lions on the short end of what appears to be a botched call, but the Bears decided to go for it on the fourth-and-13 play that followed. Then Aidan Hutchinson jumped offsides, and Fields used what turned out to be a free play to hit D.J. Moore for a 38-yard touchdown pass.

Just like that, the Lions trailed 19-13.

They never were on the right side of the scoreboard again.

“I thought I had him down,” Okwara said. “Looked up, I saw someone running with the ball, so I really thought I had a sack. But I mean, those calls are obviously up to the refs. They also have a job to do. So, I couldn’t really see much from my perspective, but just got to play the next play.”

They weren’t.