Punch a guy in the helmet once? Shame on you. Punch a guy in the helmet twice? Shame on me. Or something like that.
Chicago Bears wide receiver Javon Wims is being evaluated for discipline from the league today, according to Ian Rapoport, after this mess last night:
Punching a guy wearing a helmet doesn't seem like the smartest thing to do 😳pic.twitter.com/3PxXkg7YKu
— Stadium (@Stadium) November 1, 2020
There was obviously a reason Wims did it. Many are thinking it was due to something Saints cornerback Chauncey Gardner-Johnson did earlier in the game, either to Javon Wims (snatching his mouth piece), or when he put his finger in the face of Anthony Miller. But dang if I’m gonna justify just running up to a guy, prodding him, punching him, bouncing back because you were hoping you baited him into a fight, and then coming back for another swing when the guy stands still. It’s just a mess, and if Wims isn’t cut by the Bears this week, he’ll probably miss a game check or two, by way of fine or suspension.
Matt Nagy was not pleased.
“I did not see it. I totally missed it,” Nagy said after the game, per The Athletic. “What I did hear is what it looked like, which is completely unacceptable. “One of Javon’s strengths is his character, who he is as a person. That’s not … you don’t have that. There’s no part of that in this game. Again, I still haven’t seen it, but from what I’ve heard, it’s not good. That’s not how we roll here. We’ll be talking to him.”
Even in the moment, the play cost the Bears 15 yards, got Wims booted from the game, and was immediately followed by a Nick Foles interception. The Bears lost the game by a field goal in overtime.
Nagy’s disappointment with Wims was clear.
“When you have somebody throwing punches, when you have the things that are going on right now with us and the offense and just trying to get things going … “ Nagy said, per Bears Wire. “Guys are fighting. They’re sticking together. But then you have that happen. It takes away everything that you work hard to get to and fight for. And what bothers me is we’ve got a lot of good guys that are doing things the right way — and then it just takes it away.”
Wims apologized to the team, but I expect they’ll nevertheless dig in a little bit on why exactly this happened and what it means for Wims going forward.
A problem for Wims? This is actually the second time this has happened, with the first coming against his own teammate, Prince Amukamara, in Bears training camp last year. As the Tribune described that one at the time: “Wims, agitated at the end of a play with about 60 minutes remaining in the 2-hour, 40-minute practice, threw the football at cornerback Prince Amukamara before throwing four to five big punches, landing them on Amukamara’s helmet.” Training camp fights aren’t *THAT* unusual, but that sounded like a bigger on than typical, even at the time. And now, with what happened last night? The Bears cutting Wims would not be a shock.
The Bears have a perpetually inactive Riley Ridley behind Wims on the depth chart, and you wonder whether the drop-off would really be that steep. Wims, the Bears’ 4th receiver, was a 7th round pick out of Georgia in 2018, and has just five receptions on the year. He’s on the field for about 25% of the offense’s snaps.