Vrabel Admits He Ordered Intentional Offside Late in Patriots Loss

The coach says the call was a clock-management move meant to preserve timeouts and reshape the closing sequence of the game.

Overview

The play occurred late Thursday night on third-and-inches when Patriots defensive tackle Cory Durden jumped offside after head coach Mike Vrabel instructed him to do so to prevent time from running off.
Vrabel confirmed the tactic in his postgame remarks and publicly took responsibility so Durden would not be blamed for the penalty.
New England then stopped the Bears on the next three plays and used all three timeouts, but Chicago’s Cairo Santos converted a 58-yard field goal that effectively sealed a 30-24 Bears win.
Broadcasters and analysts noted the trade-off of the strategy and argued Bears coach Ben Johnson erred by accepting the penalty instead of declining it to keep a true third-and-inches situation.
The sequence fits a pattern of Vrabel using intentional penalties for clock control and echoes a 2020 NFL rule change that altered how the clock is handled after certain penalties late in games.