Bears Head Coach Ben Johnson Explains What Went Wrong on Joe Thuney Play

With the Chicago Bears facing a second-and-3 on the New Patriots 8-yard line, head coach Ben Johnson went into his bag of trick plays to potentially exploit the defense.

Quarterback Caleb Williams lined up under center and took the snap. As he turned to his left, Williams extended the ball with his right hand and left guard Joe Thuney looked backwards and took the handoff from his quarterback. The veteran offensive lineman squatted down before turning and moving up field.

After the confusion settled for viewers and the Patriots' defense, the Bears were flagged for an illegal forward handoff, moving the Bears back five yards for the mistake. 

The Bears finished the drive with a field goal and ended up defeating the Patriots,  30-24, to improve to 5-2 on the season. 

But that play raised questions on what that play was supposed to look like if ran correctly. 

Thuney was asked about it after the game.

"I guess they said, uh, forward handoff or something, so got to go look at it," Thuney said. "Yeah, it was fun, but illegal, I guess."

When asked if that was how the play was supposed to go, Thuney said, "Yeah, that was the general thought, but I guess it should have been more behind, so yeah."

The veteran guard mentioned the team had worked on the play "here and there." 

Williams was of course asked what happened on the Thuney handoff and didn't provide much clarity, either. 

"“I have no idea," Williams said. "I don't know. It was a special play, and the special play didn't work.” 

The Bears' quarterback also said he "didn't know that rule," and that "We're going to talk about it, coach and I and the other people that are in charge of that. So we'll figure it out. Hopefully we can figure some cool plays out."

That last part of Williams' answer sparked some controversy on social media with people questioning if the Bears knew the exact rule.

Johnson was asked about the play during his Friday virtual media availability and clarified what need to happen on the handoff. 

"It's got to be backwards," Johnson said. "It's as simple as that. Once again, we felt like it looked good over the course of – we've been practicing it now for a while. The initial version, we were actually putting the ball on the ground, which in hindsight might have been the way to go. It's one of those things, where shooters shoot, we shot, we missed. Keep it moving."

According to CBS Sports, "the penalty on Thursday night marked the first time in 16 years that an illegal forward handoff has been called in a game." The last time the penalty was called on Oct. 3, 2010 in a game between the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions.