Ruling on T.J. Hockenson non-fumble was correct

Before the Vikings were able to mount a stunning fourth-quarter comeback on Monday night, the stage needed to be properly set for it.

It almost wasn’t.

A key moment midway through the third quarter nearly gave the Bears possession of the ball at the Minnesota 25.

Here’s what happened. Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy threw a short pass to tight end T.J. Hockenson. His knee was down. As he began to get up, Bears linebacker Noah Sewell punched the ball out before touching Hockenson.

Bears coach Ben Johnson threw a challenge flag. The replay ruling was announced during a commercial break. When the coverage resume, Joe Buck properly teed up rules analyst Russell Yurk for an explanation.

Said Buck: “In replay, the call stands. And Russell Yurk, our rules analyst — Russell, it doesn’t matter that Sewell just came in and just punched the ball?”

“Correct,” Yurk said. “The punching of the ball is a football play, and that’s entirely legal. Even if he incidentally contacts the body, that’s not a foul.”

But that wasn’t the question. The question was whether Sewell hitting the ball before hitting the player rendered Hockenson down by contact.

Many (including me) thought that if Sewell hit the ball without touching Hockenson, it’s a fumble. (Johnson apparently thought that, too; otherwise, why challenge something that happened after Hockenson’s knee was clearly down?)

Here’s what we’ve learned, via discussions with someone who understands the rulebook better than the vast majority ever will.

Any contact with the ball carrier or the ball — after the ball carrier’s knee has struck the ground — makes him down by contact. The thinking was, and is, to avoid nitpicking over whether the defender only hit the ball.

So, basically, once the player’s knee is down, punching the ball (and only the ball) is no different than touching the player. It ends the play without a fumble.

While not nearly as glaring as Titans coach Brian Callahan not knowing that getting an elbow down is enough to complete a catch, Johnson apparently didn’t know this specific nuance to the rule. (He does now.)

If he had known that it didn’t matter than Sewell hit only the ball without touching Hockenson, Johnson likely wouldn’t have challenged the play. Which means he wouldn’t have lost the challenge. Which means he would have had one more timeout during the critical final moments when the Bears were trying to get the ball back with enough time to get in range for a potential game-tying field goal.