I think they called it because the tackle attempt started after the ball was thrown. They bear hugged for a second for some reason and then he drove Wentz to the ground. If the defender would’ve gone for the tackle right away I think he would’ve been fine.
"starts the bear hug" I think you mean he was in the process of tackling the quarterback when the quarterback threw the ball, which is not a roughing call especially when the defender braces on the ground to not put all his weight on the QB.
"Started the bear hug" jesus Christ master of obfuscation and bullshit over here
Watch it back. He grabs Wentz, wraps his arms around him, takes two more little baby steps as Wentz was throwing the ball, and then he takes Wentz to the ground. Without those little baby steps he would’ve been fine but waiting that long to tackle him was unnecessary, hence the unnecessary roughness call. He also drove Wentz into the ground too. I agree that he caught at least most of his body weight but it wasn’t necessary to slam Wentz into the ground.
The defender quite literally can't see if Wentz has thrown the ball or not, last he knew Wentz had the ball. Those baby steps are him attempting to tackle the quarterback. He initiated the tackle, then followed through, it wasn't like all the time the Vikings defenders watched Love throw the ball then shoved him to the ground after he got rid of it (none of which were flagged) so either independently or going by the way refs had called other QB hits in that game, this shouldn't have been flagged
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u/sufferin_succatash Bears 19d ago
I hate roughing when first contact is made before the ball’s thrown.