Let’s explain that bizarre Bears-Steelers halftime fumble fiasco (Video)

Chicago Bears cornerback Marcus Cooper Jr. almost had a touchdown on a blocked field goal, but he celebrated way too early.

There are stupid plays, and there’s whatever happened with Chicago Bears defensive back Marcus Cooper and his almost-touchdown. After holding the Steelers to just a touchdown in a half of football, the Bears blocked a field goal before halftime which was scooped up by Cooper and returned almost all the way.

Cooper stopped short of the goal line to celebrate. The only problem with that was there were a handful of Steelers players hot on his tail. Predictably, the ball was punched out of his hands Cooper paused for celebration and then batted out of the endzone by the Steelers.

This is where the confusion started.

Before we get into the chaos that ensued, here’s the play that sparked all of this:

You would think that the highlight of this moment was Cooper turning in one of the mind-numbingly dumb plays ever.

1. The Bears didn’t score. It was ruled a fumble at the one-yard line.
2. Initially, it was ruled that the half was over. No safety was awarded to the Bears.
3. John Fox protested and the ruling was reviewed by New York. It was then determined that the Steelers were the defensive team, and it’s illegal to bat the ball out of the endzone.
4. As a result, the Bears received the ball at the half-yard line for an untimed down.
5. So instead of getting a safety, the Bears had a chance for a touchdown from the half-yard line.
6. The Bears, being the Bears, committed a false-start and had to kick a field goal after all.

It was a confusing series of events that took about 10-minutes to be resolved.

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Really, the person that deserves all the blame for everything here belongs on Cooper’s head. If he had just scored, the Bears not only would be up 21-7 on the Steelers, but we wouldn’t have had to waste ten minutes of our lives trying to figure the degree to which the Bears screwed up.