Buccaneers: 3 bogus penalties that shaped the loss to the Bears

2. Roughing the passer on Shaquil Barrett

This call was egregious and something that really needs to be reviewed by the NFL. In the wake of the fourth quarter, Shaq Barrett came free on a blitz and was just a little late on his hit of Nick Foles.

Anyone watching that game without biased eyes would’ve said it was a clean hit, but that’s not what the officials called. Despite the fact that the Bears had been teeing off on Tom Brady all night long, they decided with the game on the line and time waning to throw the flag for roughing-the-passer.

Now, you may be saying: The Bears didn’t even score on this drive, so how did it shape the loss? Well, in a field-position game, Chicago was given a fresh set of downs and ended up driving to their own 33-yard line. With a punt of 59 yards, they were able to make the Bucs start at their own 16-yard line. Of course, we all know that Tampa Bay would go three-and-out and give the Bears the ball basically at midfield.

If you take away that penalty, though, the Bears would be punting from their own 16-yard line. That’s a net-gain of 32 yards.

If Bradley Pinion is punting from his own 46-yard line (a net of 32 yards) instead of his own 16-yard line, the Bears are probably never even able to get into field goal range before time expires.