A botched snap fumble bonanza was the perfect play to symbolize an ugly Bears-Jets matchup

With Trevor Siemian and Mike White acting as the respective starting quarterbacks for the Chicago Bears and New York Jets, no one expected a barnburner on Sunday afternoon. The baseline of expectations was undoubtedly “awful football,” if not “unwatchable.”

But sometimes, there are still perfect plays that encapsulate terrible matchups on paper. Plays we simply can’t ignore that capture the essence of the game we know will likely be quite awful, and everything football isn’t supposed to be. We got exactly that in New York.

As the Jets tried to knot the game up at 10-10 on a field goal attempt in the second quarter, punter/holder Braden Mann dropped the snap during a rainy affair. What ensued was an incredible football folly where seemingly no one could hang onto the ball:

HELL YEAH BEARS-JETS IN THE RAIN pic.twitter.com/ihuMLCFnKh

— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) November 27, 2022

By my count, after Mann’s feeble attempt to throw the ball forward, possession changes five times in a matter of seconds. Just beautiful. I would change nothing about this play that I’ll watch on an endless loop.

Sometimes you get lucky in the NFL and find a play that summarizes a game. For this terrible Bears-Jets matchup, it was this botched snap fumble bonanza.