Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards could be receiving a letter from the NFL soon. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported on September 16 that the league would review Edwards’ tackle on Houston Texans running back Joe Mixon in the third quarter of Chicago’s 19-13 Week 2 loss.
The stop left the latter sidelined for some time, though he finished the victory.
More importantly, Mixon and Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans insist the play was illegal. As the Sunday Night Football crew explained in real time, Edwards’ stop had the earmarks of a hip-drop tackle, which the league banned in the offseason.
Rapoport: NFL to Review Bears LB T.J. Edwards’ Tackle for Hip-Drop Violation
Joe Mixon Calls for League to Fine T.J. Edwards After Bears-Texans
“The NFL and NFLPA made it a rule and an emphasis for a reason. Time to put your money where your mouth is,” Mixon posted on X on September 16. “When I got up I asked the ref where is the flag that was a hip tackle. & his reply was no it wasn’t”
Several players suffered injuries on similar tackles around the league.
Ryans said after the game that Edwards rolled up on Mixon’s ankle with the former’s weight coming down on the latter. But Ryans said then that he needed to review the film to see if it was a hip-drop tackle.
“It’s definitely, in my mind, considered the hip-drop when a Defender unweight himself and he puts all of his weight on the on the runner’s legs,” Ryans said during his presser on Monday. “You see why we want to get the hip-drop tackle out of the game, right? Because it causes a lot of injuries when it happens. The hip-drop tackle doesn’t happen much. But the percentage of injury when it does happen is very high, and you saw that there with Joe.
“We all want to coach it better. Defenders, that’s why you want to put your body in front and tackle guys in front and not reaching from behind. Defender’s in a bad spot there, he’s trying to get Joe down, and when you’re in a bad spot the only way is to unweight yourself and you put your weight all on his leg. So unfortunate that that happened to Joe.”
Ryans said Mixon’s ankle injury does not appear serious. He also commended the Bears front for otherwise containing the run game. Mixon finished the game with 25 rushing yards. The Bears held the Texans to 3.4 yards per carry.
The coach also said he would be submitting the footage of the tackle to the league.
That was more of a procedural thing than anything, with Ryans also saying the Texans would send in footage of linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair’s altercation on the Bears sideline.
DeMeco Ryans Calls Out Bears Coaches Involvement for Sideline Altercation
“From my perspective, seeing Azeez, he had a big hit on the quarterback. And everyone gets a little antsy when the quarterback gets hit on the sideline,” Ryans said. “But if the quarterback stays in, he’s going to get hit. And now I think there’s — everybody’s a little sensitive when there’re big hits in the league. We’re still playing a physical game.
“You’re going to get hit hard if you’re playing against us. That’s just how we operate here.”
Al-Shaair’s borderline hit on Caleb Williams along the sideline riled up the Bears and resulted in the Texans defender throwing a punch at Chicago’s Roschon Johnson, who was not in the game.
For his part, Johnson said it took all of his willpower to not retaliate against Al-Shaair in a since-deleted post on X. Al-Shaair said after the game it was not his “proudest moment.” But he insisted Bears players were being “disrespectful” to and physical with him, forcing him to defend himself.
Ryans pointed plenty of blame back at the Bears.
“Azeez, of course, he’s surrounded by a lot of their players and also some staff and they are surrounding him. They got people pushing Azeez. So we have to, as the game, we have to be better, right, from protecting all players involved. Especially when something happens on the opposite sideline. Just have to be better,” Ryans said. “From Azeez’s perspective, we can’t throw punches or anything like that. But just overall, we just have to be able to protect players.
“It goes both ways. When you got guys surrounding one of our players and ununiformed staff that’s surrounding and in that little mixup as well, that’s a problem and we have to get it fixed.”
Nico Collins Discusses Run-In With Tyrique Stevenson
As if the Edwards and Johnson’s interactions were not enough, a third — between Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson and Texans wide receiver Nico Collins — also made waves, and mostly for the wrong reasons.
Stevenson baited Collins into an unnecessary roughness penalty to end the first quarter.
Collins scored a 28-yard touchdown on the following play, drawing an illegal use of hand penalty on Stevenson in the process. He finished with 8 receptions for 135 yards and 1 touchdown.
Former Bears QB Justin Fields Off to 2-0 Start With Steelers
It may not be ironic that former Bears quarterback Justin Fields has led the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 2-0 record while Russell Wilson — a one-time rumored Bears trade target — nurses a calf injury.
Fields’ unblemished start is good for the Bears, though.
It gets them closer to the conditional sixth-round draft pick they received from the Steelers in the trade sending Fields to Pittsburgh turning into a fourth-rounder.
Fields must play at least 51% of the snaps. He has posted similar stat lines to his Bears days. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has not declared the former No. 11 overall pick (2021) as the permanent starter.
Still, this is as good of a start as the Bears could hope for after the transaction.
