Obscure rule saves Bears from turnover
PHILADELPHIA -- The strangest play of the game Sunday was also one of the luckiest for the Bears.
With the score tied at 9-9 early in the fourth quarter and the Bears at midfield after the Eagles' Sav Rocca booted a 27-yard punt out of bounds rather than risk kicking to Devin Hester, the Eagles appeared to get a huge break.
Center Olin Kreutz's snap zipped through quarterback Brian Griese's legs and was scooped up by Eagles safety Sean Considine, who was eventually tackled by Cedric Benson 20 yards downfield. However, according to a little-known NFL rule, when that situation occurs, the play is automatically ruled a false start, so instead of losing the ball, the Bears were merely penalized 5 yards.
"I never touched the ball," Griese said. "I guess there were some chunks in the middle of the field and Olin went to snap the ball and the nose of the ball got caught in the chunks of the grass. I've never experienced that ruling before. That was quite fortuitous for us."
It was lucky too.
Even Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner didn't know the rule, nor did Kreutz or guard Ruben Brown.
"Honestly, I did not," Turner said. "I do now, but I didn't then. My first thought was I hope that one of their defensive linemen interfered with the snap, maybe hit the ball to make it snap like that because I've never seen anything like that.
"I was looking for a flag, thinking maybe they interfered with the snap to make it go like that. Other than that, I had no idea. Then when I saw the flag, and I still had no idea what it was."
According to Art McNally, the NFL officials spokesman, neither the rule nor the interpretation is new.
"Under these circumstances, it has to be ruled a false start," McNally said in a statement. "If (the quarterback) is in shotgun, and the (ball) is snapped over his head, clean play, pick it up, go ahead and go the other way, everything's fine. The fact that he's taking the snap direct from center, goes through his legs, (the official) has to kill it right away, false start."