The defining moment of the Steelers' last-second victory over the Bears Monday came as Ben Roethlisberger was leading Pittsburgh down the field on its game-winning drive. Following a completion to emerging superstar Pat Freiermuth, the veteran QB raced to the line of scrimmage and spiked the ball to stop the clock. Then a flag was thrown.
After some deliberation, Tony Corrente got on the mic and said there was actually no foul on the play. It was just an errant flag. Whoops.
"There was the 11th player running on the field," he said. "Spike is good. First down."
The error was symbolic of a night in which yellow flags outnumbered terrible towels at Heinz Field, with referees calling 17 penalties for 145 yards. Much to the Steelers' benefit, most of the flags were directed towards the Bears. Chicago was penalized 115 yards.
There were two especially brutal calls that will dominate the conversation Tuesday: a phantom low block that nullified a Bears touchdown, and the asinine taunting penalty levied against linebacker Cassius Marsh for stepping towards the Steelers' bench.
Let's start with the low block. Trailing by 11, the Bears were facing a 2nd-and-goal in the third quarter. Justin Fields, who made several dynamic throws, rolled out to his right and found tight end Jimmy Graham in the corner of the end zone. Given that Chicago lost 29-27, this play would've been the game-changer.
Except, guard James Daniels was whistled for an illegal block on T.J. Watt. But replay shows he whiffed. Corrente's post-game explanation was less than satisfying.
"The new rule this year is there should be no contact below the waist to any player outside of the tight end box," he told reporters. "And this player initiated low contact to a player outside the tight end box."
Again: Daniels never made contact with Watt. He missed him. The errant call decided the outcome of the game well below the third quarter was even over.
But as it turns out, that debacle was just an amuse bouche of the clownery to come. Marsh sacked Ben Roethlisberger on 3rd-and-8 during the Steelers' penultimate drive, and proceeded to take a few steps in the direction of the Pittsburgh sideline. Then he was hit with a taunting penalty. Apparently, the NFL's renewed focus on taunting also involves players walking.
Worst of all, replay showed the most egregious portion of the sequence came when Corrente bumped Marsh before throwing the flag. ESPN's "Monday Night Football" crew hammered the ridiculous call, along with the rest of the NFL-watching world.
Cassius Marsh called for... taunting.... pic.twitter.com/OZ0jkCqWOp
— Justin (@hobokenjustin) November 9, 2021
"He wasn't saying anything. He was just looking at the bench," said Louis Riddick. "You should not potentially lose football games because of that."
The Bears didn't lose the game because of that, because Fields found Darnell Mooney for a pretty touchdown. As we established earlier, they lost it in the third quarter, when Daniels was flagged for a bad block attempt. MNF games that come down to the last drive should be instant thrillers.
Instead, the contest was a sloppy slog, thanks to the boys in black and white.
