Bears use towel on soggy Soldier Field turf, lose chance at FG

The Bears were set to try a 46-yard field goal toward the end of the first half Sunday when officials huddled at a soggy Soldier Field and threw a flag.

Rookie punter Trenton Gill, who was serving as the Bears’ holder in his first NFL game, had brought a towel out on the field before kicker Cairo Santos attempted his kick. He put the towel on the grass where he would have set the football down and tamped down on it. Santos stepped on the towel, too.

Gill then flung the towel behind him.

It was illegal. All of it.

Gill was called for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty for using the towel to dry the field. The Bears’ field-goal try turned into a punt instead.

“You cannot bring what we consider a foreign object — this was not a towel that would go on a uniform — out to alter the playing surface,” referee Clay Martin said in a pool report. “We felt that provided an unfair advantage, using the towel to wipe down the area where the ball was going to be placed.”

Gill could have used a towel to dry his hands and then throw it off to the side. Either he or Santos could have used their hands to tamp down the grass where the ball would be spotted — but they couldn’t use the towel.

Santos took responsibility.

“I honestly didn’t think I was doing anything wrong,” he said. “It was raining; I didn’t think it’d dry the field. It was just to flatten the spot.”

Gill said he didn’t know using the towel on the grass was illegal.

“I’ve never played in a rain game like this where it’s pouring down the whole game and there’s 2 inches of water on the field,” he said. “I’ve never had to do it before, but I’ll never do it again.”

Wet turf

The Bears’ kicking game was affected the most by the puddles on the field. Santos missed two of his three extra-point tries, both in the fourth quarter as the rain fell harder. He pushed one wide right and another wide left.

Robbie Gould, whose legendary career will be forever linked with the Bears, made his only extra point in the second quarter and then a 25-yard field goal in the third.

Cornerback Jaylon Johnson said the rain was the issue, not the Bermuda grass that was laid down this week.

“It was really soft from the very beginning,” he said. “The grass definitely felt good. It was just soaked in rain.”

Two right guards

The Bears gave former second-round pick Teven Jenkins his first start at right guard — but then rotated him and veteran Lucas Patrick throughout the game.

Patrick, who had surgery on his right thumb the first week of training camp, was unable to play center because his hand was casted into a club.

Coach Matt Eberflus said the Bears knew all week they’d rotate the two.

“Lucas had the ‘Q-Tip’ on, so he was going to play the guard position,” Eberflus said.

He said he wasn’t sure whether the rotation would continue.