Safety Clayton Fejedelem finished as Cincinnati's leading rusher after going 49 yards on a fake punt. Fejedelem, punter Kevin Huber's personal protector, took a direct snap and scampered left down the sideline. That play set up a Randy Bullock 28-yard field goal to put the Bengals ahead 17-14 midway through the second quarter.
"That's a tool we always have in our bag," Fejedelem said. "There wasn't any game plan, wasn't anything. They only had 10 guys out on the field. They had double vice out, five in the box. We had them out-numbered and it was a no-brainer."
What made the play even more interesting was Chicago's Demarcus Ayers drew a personal foul for lowering his head to tackle Fejedelem. Fejedelem was then flagged for the same infraction in the third quarter when he was on defense.
"Right now I understand the safety factor of the helmet rule, but it's so gray that it's really hard," Fejedelem said. We don't know when it will get called. When mine was called, I had my eyes up. I saw him, had him in my sights and followed through and I guess being in that athletic position with the head moving forward, you are going to get popped for it."
Those were the only two times in the game the mystical helmet rule was called. And it's still a mystery.
"My face was up, and I didn't lower my body," Fejedelem said. " I was staring at my guy and hit him from the eyes up. I feel like if there's a loud vicious looking play they'll lean toward flagging it for safety reasons. I was deprived of a good play, but you just have to learn from it."
TATE'S FATE: What a winning touchdown drive for rookie wide receiver Auden Tate. He made three catches and only the 33-yard TD counted. His first one, a 25-yarder, got negated by off-setting penalties, illegal use of hands on Bengals left tackle Kent Perkins and pass interference on Bears cornerback John Franklin III. On the next snap, Tate burned Franklin again for 16 yards, but got called for pushing off. Finally, two snaps later he got past the unfortunate Franklin.
"It was kind of crazy. First the fade ball, and I couldn't see it," Tate said. "Then the play I get the catch and there were flags. And then another catch and I get a flag. It just all worked out good, though."
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Safety Trayvon Henderson made a great tackle on a punt, making the tackle on the Bears 8 for a four-yard loss. But he hurt his ribs on the play …
