CHICAGO -- Chicago Bears rookie punter Trenton Gill was not aware of a bizarre rule that cost his team a chance at a field goal before halftime of its Week 1 win over the San Francisco 49ers.
With 32 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Chicago's kicking unit trotted onto the rain-soaked surface at Soldier Field to kick a 47-yard field goal. Gill, who holds for kicker Cairo Santos, tried to soak up excess water at the spot of the attempt with a towel. Rain had been pouring steadily in the area for hours leading up to kickoff and during the game.
As Gill tossed the towel out of the way, referees flew a flag and penalized him 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The penalty took the Bears out of field goal range. Instead of potentially putting up three points to cut into San Francisco's 10-0 lead, Chicago was forced to punt.
According to NFL referee Clay Martin, who officiated Chicago's 19-10 win, players are not allowed to alter the playing surface where the ball is spotted with a "foreign object."
"We felt that provided an unfair advantage, using the towel to wipe down the area where the ball was going to be placed," Martin said.
"If he used it to wipe his hands and had thrown it away, we would have been OK with it," Martin added. "To put it on the ground and alter the playing surface where we were going to spot the ball, that's why we called a penalty."
Gill said he was unaware of the rule.
"I'd never done it before, but I never played in a game where it's been rain the whole time, a couple of inches on the field," Gill said. "You saw at the end, there was about like 2 inches of water on the field."
Santos put the penalty on himself. The kicker said he thought the Bears could flatten the spot where he would kick from, which he said he did last year in Seattle during snowy conditions, though he couldn't remember if he used his foot or a towel.
"I honestly didn't think I was doing anything wrong," Santos said. "I think now I know not to use that. It wasn't trying to dry because it was raining. I didn't expect it was going to dry the field. It was just to flatten the spot, and I didn't want to do it with my foot in the water because I was just about to kick the ball.
"I just want to take responsibility. Trent didn't know."
Martin said he explained the penalty to Bears coach Matt Eberflus, who chalked the moment up to a learning experience.
"That was just a mistake," Eberflus said. "We have to learn from that. Those guys have to do a good job of understanding that. We have to do a better job."