Coach Matt Nagy couldn’t believe that officials stopped the play when the Bears sprinted their punt team off the field and their offense back on it with 1:45 left in the first half Sunday against the Rams.
He didn’t know it in the moment, but right tackle Bobby Massie knocked down line judge Carl Johnson while running onto the field, causing Johnson to stop play.
By halftime, Nagy knew he was wrong to have sprinted onto the field screaming. After the game and again Monday, he apologized for freaking out.
“[Johnson] got knocked down, and then he was trying to recover and he couldn’t,” Nagy said. “He did the right thing by stopping the play.
“At that point in time, that’s such a crucial part of the game. My emotions … you prep for that time, you prep for that situation. I talked to those guys. I apologized to them. I told them that they did the right thing and we need to coach that play better so that our guys don’t do that.”