The Chicago Bears survived a wild Sunday night game to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 27-24. They committed their fair share of errors, notably Bears quarterback Caleb Williams and his costly interceptions. Wide receiver Zavion Thomas was also guilty after committing a needless unnecessary roughness penalty in the first quarter.
Bears head coach Ben Johnson made it known after that game that he wasn't a fan of Thomas' penalty.
“Yeah, I don’t know if he played on offense after that,” Johnson said bluntly, implying the rookie had been punished for the penalty.
The penalty proved to be a turning point in the game for the Bears, who had been leading 14-3 at the time. On the very next play, Caleb Williams threw the first of his two straight interceptions as he ended the game with a career-high four picks. Luckily for the Bears, they were able to overcome a late Bucs comeback to win the game on a buzzer-beating Cairo Santos field goal.
Thomas has had a disappointing rookie season thus far. Despite featuring in all nine games, he has just six receptions for 41 yards. He's already not contributing to the team with his lack of production, then he goes and actively hurts the team with a preventable penalty.
With so many other receivers on the Bears' depth chart, Thomas already has an uphill battle to get consistent snaps. He can't afford to lose the trust of Johnson and the coaching staff by continuing to make bad decisions when he does get the chance to play.