Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair got away with blatantly punching Chicago Bears running back Roschon Johnson during Sunday night’s game.
The ugly scenes unfolded during the third quarter of Houston and Chicago’s tense Week 2 matchup.
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams scampered toward the sideline on a first down when Al-Shaair rammed into him. After the rookie was knocked out of bounds and onto the turf, his Bears teammates, standing nearby, immediately mobbed his hitter.
In the middle of the scuffle, Al-Shaair landed a clean right hand on Johnson’s helmet. Johnson was not checked in the game at the time of the hit.
While the running back did not retaliate, he raised his hands as none of the officials threw a flag after the punch happened out in the open.
Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair punched Bears running back Roschon Johnson
On the broadcast, Chris Collinsworth and Mike Tirico noted that because the referees presumably did not see – and therefore did not flag – the punch, the play was not reviewable by New York.
However, several camera angles and replays show how the punch was impossible to miss and how lucky Al-Shaair was to stay in the game.
After the incident, several sports media personalities spoke up on the referees turning a blind eye to the glaringly obvious foul.
‘Staggeringly stupid that NY can’t buzz down and toss a guy we’re watching punch somebody,’ Sam Monson wrote.
Meanwhile, Steve Palazzolo quipped about how New York said: ‘Sorry, our hands are tied. There was no flag thrown on the play,’ in reaction to the hit.
Skip Bayless added how ‘At least one ref should’ve seen that punch.’
To add salt to the wound, the Texans secured the 19-13 win to move to 2-0 this season. On the other hand, Chicago came out of the loss with a 1-1 record.