Announcers criticize coach for awful challenge

Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth didn’t understand it either.

During the second quarter of Sunday night’s Chicago Bears-Houston Texans matchup on primetime NBC, Bears head coach Matt Eberflus saw a third down play unfold right in front of him. He threw the challenge flag after Texans wideout Stefon Diggs did his signature toe tap on the sideline, hauling in a 21-yard reception on 3rd-and-10.

At first glance, Diggs looked like he had gotten both feet down by an eyelash, as he’s one of the best receivers in the NFL at working the sideline. At second glance, the 30-year-old Maryland product was, well, being the 30-year-old Maryland product, living up to his billing as one of the better possession receivers in the league.

And yet, Eberflus inexplicably threw the challenge flag, to the surprise of both Sunday Night Football announcers.

“It looked like I saw the rubber come up… there’s one down,” said Tirico. “Yep, there’s two down, with a big drag.”

“That is not even close,” added Collinsworth.

“He kept control of it, as well, so it’s gonna be confirmed in all likelihood as a grab,” Tirico said.

It took less than three minutes — a few commercials — for that to be the case.

Diggs clearly got both feet down and maintained possession throughout the completion of the catch. Maybe you can give Eberflus the benefit of the doubt here being that potentially he saw a different angle from the sideline — even though he was right smack dab in front of it — but there’s a reason why NFL teams employ members of their coaching (or support) staff to give these bang-bang plays a second or third look.

And by the time Tirico and Collinsworth had snuck in a peek at the same replay, they couldn’t believe why Eberflus would make such a decision. An exasperated Collinsworth mentioned how it wasn’t even close, as Diggs had plenty of room to spare to complete his first catch of Sunday’s 19-10 win.

After returning from commercial break, Tirico played it perfectly.

“That was a questionable flag to throw for a challenge there right in front of your sideline,” NBC’s lead football play-by-play voice added.

The ironic thing here is that Houston would challenge another Diggs catch just four plays later. This time, he undeniably caught the ball with both feet in bounds, but the Texans challenged (and lost) the line to gain. The ball wasn’t spotted correctly, and that was changed upon review, but Houston challenged that it was first down instead of the actual spot. So, in turn, it lost its challenge for the second half, too.

DeMeco Ryans’ decision, however, was not as egregious as his counterpart on the other sideline.

In the grand scheme of things, it didn’t have much impact on the game itself, as Texans kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn went on to nail one of his four field goals of the night from 47 yards out, extending Houston’s lead to 13-3. However, it’s notable how blunt Tirico and Collinsworth were in their assessment of what was clearly a poor challenge.

[ SNF ]

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