The Bears’ ‘illegal towel’ penalty knocked them out of field goal range against the San Francisco 49ers.

The Chicago Bears were driving into San Francisco 49ers’ territory just before halftime when Chicago lined up for a 47-yard field goal. The Niners’ special teams wasn’t the only thing going against the Bears as they lined up for the kick: Chicago also had to battle rainy conditions at Soldier Field that helped create a sloppy, borderline unplayable playing surface.

As the Bears prepared to kick the field goal, holder and rookie punter Trenton Gill brought out a towel to wipe away a spot on the field for the kick. When the ball was snapped, the officials blew the play dead and called a 15-yard penalty on the Bears for illegal towel use.

The Bears were forced to punt, and the 49ers took a 7-0 lead into halftime. Here’s a look at the play.

shown: a 15-yard penalty for illegal towel use. go Bears pic.twitter.com/gIcaHqEIKP

Only a franchise as inept as the Bears could get called for such an obscured penalty.

Here’s a look at the refs calling the penalty:

The Bears really got a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for wiping down the field with a towel pic.twitter.com/diIK3om4ng

No one at the stadium could believe what they were watching:

Trenton Gill unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for bringing a towel on the field and the #Bears have been knocked out of FG range.

Lol, illegal towel call in Chicago wipes out a FG chance in Chicago.

Bears holder Trenton Gill was just called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for bringing a towel onto the field while trying to dry the kicking area off before a field goal attempt.

No Fun League strikes again. Trenton Gill, the Bears holder, flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct because, get this, he brought a towel out to wipe down the field. Which is more than a little wet.

gonna start saying “i would rather wipe down soldier field with a towel” whenever i don’t want to do something.

Hopefully there isn’t a serious injury on such a poor playing field. The grass at Soldier Field has been unacceptable for far too long.

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