(670 The Score) The NFL has made the enforcement of previously existing taunting rules a point of emphasis in the 2021 season, and the Bears and Bengals each found that out the hard, frustrating way in the first quarter of their game Sunday.
With about six-and-a-half minutes left in the first quarter, the Bears thought they’d gotten the Bengals off the field on a third-and-5 incompletion, only for safety Tashaun Gipson to draw a 15-yard taunting penalty for … wait for it … quickly clapping in the face of receiver Ja’Marr Chase as he lay on the ground.
That gave the Bengals a new set of downs at their own 40-yard line, and they drove as far as the Bears’ 35-yard line before their drive stalled.
One possession later, it was the Bengals who got hit with the unsportsmanlike 15-yard penalty for taunting, as safety Vonn Bell barked at Bears quarterback Andy Dalton shortly after an incompletion. The penalty was a big one, as the Bears would’ve faced third-and-12 from their own 5-yard line but instead got a new set of downs at the 20-yard line.
Fans and media members were rather perplexed by how stringently the taunting rule was being enforced.