Johnny Knox – NFC Special Teams Player of the Week or Jackass?

Johnny Knox was named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week thanks to his 102-yard kick return for a touchdown in the Bears 48-24 win over the Lions.  But was it really a touchdown?

This video clip has created a stir for a couple of different reasons.  Give it a look with the ever-enthusiastic Bears radio voice Jeff Joniak on the call after the jump.

Did Knox pull a DeSean Jackson and drop the ball before he actually scored?  In typical Lions fashion, they totally blew it.  Thanks to the Tribune’s Eric Zorn who took the initiative to freeze frame Knox crossing the goal line, we see the evidence.

Lions coach Jim Schwartz commented after the game on how badly his Lions were outplayed in the second half last Sunday:

"“One of the worst second halves of football I’ve ever been associated with,” he said.“We were poor on special teams, we were poor on offense, we were poor on defense, we were out-coached, we were out-played; their trainers were probably even better than ours in the second half.”"

Here’s what he had to say in his Monday press conference when asked about the Johnny Knox potential fumble:

"“Yeah, it’s hard on the coaches tape, it looks that way, but if you look at the TV copies that we had, we didn’t think that we had a clear vision of that; but yeah, that was one that if we do challenge, because there’s no clear recovery of the ball, they blow the whistle dead, they get that ball at maybe the half-yard line or the one-yard line, or one of those things. It would be close. It would really just depend on which view the TV cameras have.”"

And you wonder how this organization lost 19 in a row?  Maybe they had the Bears booth review guy advising them on that play?  That guy never seems to guess right.  Lovie should adopt the George Costanza “opposite” philosophy when it comes to challenges at the rate he’s been going this season, but that’s a discussion for another time.

Even if the Bears still get the ball on the 1-yard line, isn’t it worth it to challenge if for no other reason than to try to take the air out of the stadium and knock the Bears and Knox back on their heels?

In other news related to the Knox kickoff return, another star was born on Sunday and it was ball boy Darryl MaGee.  MaGee is a junior at the University of Illinois and made quite an impression as he tried to keep up with Knox, racing down the sidelines.

Go back and watch the clip again; the kid’s go some wheels.   Check out Vaughn McClure’s piece on MaGee here.   The way the Illini have played this season, they should sign MaGee up immediately.  Wasn’t Larry Fitzgerald once a ball boy for the Vikings?  That worked out OK for him, didn’t it?

BEAR DOWN!!!

Through the month of October, my usual BEAR DOWN signoff will be in pink to raise awareness for National Breast Cancer Awareness month.