On Monday night, Bears coach Ben Johnson wasted a challenge — and blew an ultimately critical timeout — after Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson caught a pass and, with his knee still on the ground, had the ball punched out.
The ruling on the field was correct. Once the ball carrier’s knee is down, any contact from a defender (even on the ball and only the ball) ends the play.
Johnson has since taken responsibility for the ill-advised challenge.
“I thought I saw knees up, and so that’s on me,” Johnson told reporters. “I’ve got to do a better job listening to the guys up top. You know, I get influenced a little bit for the first time with the people around me, and I’ve just got to stay true to the process.”
It’s a great point, and an important lesson. Especially if the guys around Johnson were calling for a challenge not because Hockenson’s knee was up, but because they thought the ball was punched out before Hockenson was touched.
The end result of the miscue was that the Bears had less time to get down the field for a potential overtime-forcing field goal attempt.
