Bears called for worst taunting penalty in NFL history vs Saints (Video)

For some unknown reason, Chicago Bears rookie tight end Cole Kmet was penalized for allegedly taunting.

The Chicago Bears haven’t had a great go of things in the first half of the Wild Card game against the New Orleans Saints. They had a brutal drive in the first quarter where wide receiver Javon Wims dropped an easy 40-yard touchdown in the end zone and failed to convert on fourth down on a brutal scramble call by head coach Matt Nagy. But that wasn’t the only puzzling thing to happen to Chicago on Sunday afternoon.

In the second quarter, rookie tight end Cole Kmet hauled in a one-yard pass by quarterback Mitchell Trubisky to set up a third-and-five situation. After the pay, Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins started jawing at Kmet, who lightly tossed the football over Jenkins and into the referee’s hands. Kmet was immediately penalized for taunting, moving the Bears backwards and additional 15-yards.

Worst taunting penalty in playoff history?

The guess is that the on-field officials felt that Kmet was tossing the football in Jenkins’ direction and immediately threw the yellow flags onto the turf. But as you can see, Kmet was actually trying to give the ball to the referee to set up the third-down play.

The controversial penalty did knock the Bears just outside of the red zone, but Trubisky hit receiver Anthony Miller on an 11-yard reception to put them in favorable kicking territory. Cairo Santos would convert on a 36-yard field goal attempt to cut Chicago’s deficit to 7-3 against New Orleans.

The Bears can at least take solace in the fact that they got points out of this.