Four punts on third down and the special teams coach calling for a rouge nearly cost the Bears a season-opening win in their game against the Bengals.
“I guess in the heat of battle, I just sort of checked out for a quarter or two,” Bears coach Marc Trestman told post-game interviewers. Trestman admitted he became confused between NFL rules and Canadian Football League (CFL) rules with which he became accustomed while coaching the Montreal Alouettes.
Among the Trestman coaching faux pas was punting on third down four times.
“In each situation we were at least third and eight, the perfect time to punt, except I forgot I was in Chicago, not Montreal” the coach said. “It’s the same tactic we used to beat the Edmonton Eskimos twice last year.”
Perhaps the biggest mistake made was when special teams coach Joe DeCamillis, with the ball at the Bengals 33-yard line, called for a rouge, a CFL rule that gives the punting team one point if the ball isn’t returned out of the end zone.
“Good thing we were flagged for the fifth time for having 12 men on the field,” DeCamillis said.
To celebrate his first NFL victory, Trestman ordered a post-game team meal that included 67 pounds of back-bacon, four quarts of Crown Royal and 34 cases of LaBatt Blue.
