Chicago Bears were robbed by the referrees on multiple calls vs the Steelers

A look at how the taunting penalty by Tony Corrente came about for Cassius Marsh

Here is the video of the sack that took place by Cassius Marsh prior to the taunting call. I’ll preface this with that the taunting call had nothing to do with his karate kick:

Now, here’s a look at when the referee threw the flag for taunting. If you missed, prior to Marsh turning around to run off the field, he stood at the right hash mark and stared towards the Steelers sideline (maybe even the fans like Aaron Rodgers did for all we know) without saying a word. The flag comes out after Tony Corrente hip checks Cassius Marsh as he runs back towards the Bears sideline. Contact that Corrente himself stated he was unaware of and did not alter his decision to throw the flag.

This is absurd in my opinion. For one, Tony Corrente has his back to Cassius Marsh during most of the time Marsh is staring towards the Steelers’ sidelines. Now, he is a former Steeler and I am sure he has emotions towards the team as he was literally on the team as recently as August. That said, based on the rules of the taunting penalty, I do not see how he violated any here. According to Tony Corrente’s response, the taunting was based on Marsh’s posture. Posture?!?!

"“First of all, keep in mind that taunting is a point of emphasis this year. And with that said, I saw the player, after he made a big play, run toward the beng area of the Pittsburgh Steelers and posture in such a way that I felt he was taunting them.”"

This was the transcribed quote from Adam Hoge’s interview. Corrente went on to confirm that the contact had nothing to do with the call as Hoge asked him about it twice.

Well, for one, Marsh hardly “ran” to the opposing bench. He showed emotion as most players do and should. He did not get in a player’s face, he does not even appear to say anything. And, it should be pointed out that Corrente had to have only seen this with his peripheral vision as he was not watching Marsh that closely on the play.

Furthermore, the league defines taunting as any flagrant acts or remarks that deride, mock, bait or embarrass an opponent. Nothing happened here in any way that was more severe than what I mentioned earlier regarding Aaron Rodgers and the fans. Under Unsportsmanlike conduct, the rules mention throwing a punch, kicking at an opponent, even though no contact is made, using abusive, threatening or insulting language or gestures to opponents, teammates, or officials and using baiting or taunting acts or words that may engender ill will between teams.

None of that happened here by Cassius Marsh — I repeat, nothing.

In the end, this doesn’t matter. However, as a fan of the sport as much as I am a fan of the Chicago Bears, this is just getting out of hand. The league learned its lesson when it came to penalizing celebrations, will it do the same with this new taunting call?