NFL adds insult to injury to Bears rookie for illegal act against the Buccaneers, and he’s not the only Chicago player the league cracked down on
Chicago Bears rookie wide receiver Zavion Thomas was fined by the NFL for striking Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Jacob Parrish, as if he hasn’t already been punished enough.
The Chicago Bears are currently enjoying the bye week and it came at a key time coming off the team’s Week 9 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was a gritty game last Sunday night and the Bears had plenty of things to address coming out of that game.
At this point, the Bears have likely put that game behind them and now are enjoying some down time before getting back to work next week. However, the NFL cracked down on two Bears players on Saturday for infractions that occurred against the Buccaneers.
Zavion Thomas fined for striking Jacob Parrish
The first notable fine coming out of last Sunday’s game was handed to Bears rookie wide receiver Zavion Thomas. Thomas was fined $6,901 for unnecessary roughness (striking) after punching Buccaneers cornerback Jacob Parrish.
The play happened during the team’s second offensive drive, and it was a back-breaking mistake by the rookie. It was first-and-goal from the 8-yard-line and the Bears were knocking on the door of a 21-0 lead. However, Thomas and Parrish got into a shoving match that ended with Thomas striking Parrish in the helmet. The officials saw the act and immediately threw the flag.
That backed up the offense 15 yards and in an effort to get the yardage back, quarterback Caleb Williams forced a pass into double-coverage resulting in an interception on the very next play. That penalty killed Chicago’s momentum and Thomas was immediately reprimanded by the coaching staff on the sidelines and didn’t play another offensive snap for the rest of the game (however he did play great on special teams as a returner).
Still, in an offense that is no-nonsense and a stickler for the details, Thomas’ act was a clear no-no. And the league felt the same way, tripling down on his punishment.
Austin Booker also got fined coming out of Sunday’s game
The other player that the NFL went after on Saturday was Bears defensive end Austin Booker, fining him $ 6,457 for unnecessary roughness (use of the helmet). Booker’s infraction came just before halftime on a play in which Booker hit quarterback Baker Mayfield with his helmet after Mayfield threw the pass.
Somehow, there wasn’t a flag thrown on this play, despite being clear as day. I mean, watch the video of it. One could say it’s a bang-bang play, but these are the exact type of hits the league is looking to crack down on.
Thankfully, for Chicago, there was no flag for the hit. Instead, the play ended up as an incompletion and ended up kicking a field goal four plays later going into halftime.
This is something Booker needs to be careful of. Last season, he was fined three times for either use of the helmet or a helmet-to-helmet hit, and even caused quarterback Jordan Love to suffer a concussion on one of those hits. The fourth fine Booker received last year was a hefty one worth $46,371.
Head coach Ben Johnson said last season it’s something the team is conscious of and certainly not the way the players are coached. Clearly, this is a technique issue that Booker needs to figure out before it leads to further penalties, fines, or even a suspension.
The league certainly took notice of this hit, even if the officials didn’t. And they’ll be watching Booker like a hawk moving forward because this is clearly a recurring problem for him.
Fines for the Buccaneers?
Since people were asking. No. Buccaneers rookie outside linebacker Rueben Bain Jr. was not fined for his hit on Bears wide receiver Luther Burden III that resulted in not only a fumble, but also a concussion for Burden. There was also not a flag for that play.
The only Buccaneers player that was fined was rookie defensive back Keionte Scott. Scott was fined $6,540 for unnecessary roughness (use of helmet) for his hit on Bears wide receiver Kalif Raymond during the second quarter. There was no flag for that play either.
