Bostic's Fine Has Completely Melted All Boundary Lines

He lead with his shoulder. He hit Willie in the chest. Clean hit right? Then why was Bostic fined $21,000?

You don't have to graduate Summa Cum Laude from Yale to figure out that the NFL is going through a series of internal crises that have them looking more befuddled than JaMarcus Russell staring at a playbook. Clearly, the NFL is trying to "soften" their game to reduce the amount of head injuries, by slowly killing off the kickoff as well as this new rule that disallows running backs from lowering their head downfield. But these rules only offer up more debate and confusion. How far is "downfield?" What truly constitutes a helmet-to-helmet hit? What's the real definition of "horse-collar tackle?" Really all of these new safety provisions have just created more controversy and put unnecessary pressure on referees to overcall penalties to remain on the safe side. The NFL's latest fine has destroyed any boundary line between legal and illegal hits.

ESPNChicago.com-- CHICAGO -- Bears rookie linebacker Jon Bostic was fined $21,000 Wednesday for his hit on San Diego Chargers wide receiver Mike Willie.

A source familiar with the situation confirmed the fine.

The rule in question involved Bostic lowering his head and making forcible contact with a defenseless player's body, the source said. This wasn't a violation of the new "crown of the helmet rule," according to the source.

"I'm still trying to figure that stuff out," Bostic said. "Obviously I'm new to the league. There's going to be a lot of new things I'm going to have to find out. I'm learning from the older guys and really just finding out the process. I'm really just figuring out all of this stuff."

Bears' first-year head coach Marc Trestman said he thought it was a clean hit.

"I don't have any reaction right now about anything," Trestman said. "When I looked at it, other than to say that I thought it was a clean hit, his head was up and he hit with the shoulder from my vantage point on the field, and upstairs looking at it on the tape I thought it was a clean hit. That's all I need to say about it."

-Read the full article by Jeff Dickerson here.

Jon Bostic hit Mike Willie with a bone-jarring, fumble forcing, CLEAN hit. He didn't lead with his head, he simply had his head up and went to wrap Willie up. Since Willie wasn't expecting a hit from his blindside, Bostic ended up destroying him and making his head snapback. There was no foul play. If the Bears rookie had lead with his head, Willie surely wouldn't have gotten up under his own power and Bostic probably would be facing a suspension. Fortunately, that's not the case. Does the NFL realize that there wasn't a flag on the play for good reason? The refs were watching the same game as the league reviewed later and they originally determined (correctly) that the play was not dirty. It was absolutely a clean hit and you would imagine that the refs, staring directly at the play would launch some yellow laundry onto the field if they felt that it was illegal in any way. But they didn't and yet rookie Jon Bostic still has to pay $21,00 of his own money because he hit someone exactly how he was supposed to hit him. Where's the line, NFL? This decision pretty much eviscerated that line and leaves defenders in a seriously tough situation.

My reading into why the NFL fined him comes as this. Now any hit that is termed "violent," such as one that produces whip-lash or makes a clearly audible noise on contact is going to be deemed a fineable offense. To a defender this means that they'll have to go low every time in fear of being fined. How do you play defense and try to hit people, when you're worried about coughing up $20,000? It's infuriating because it basically makes defensive players second-class citizens. Don't give me this new "leading with the helmet" rule they placed on running backs. That does not "level the playing field" I bet not a single RB is fined this year. The NFL, as quickly as it can, is eliminating the "violence" in football, which is at the core of the sports foundation. Football isn't a contact sport. It isn't a collision sport. It's a violent sport. Especially violent with the sizes of these individuals being 250-plus pounds while still running around at 4.5 speeds. 

On the flip-side you have guys like Brian Hartline complaining about defenders "going low" at ballcarrier's knees, like on Dustin Keller's ACL-tearing play. What is D.J. Swearinger supposed to do? He can't hit Keller anywhere high because it might just cost him 20k. Now that he's going low it's a dirty play? Riddle me that NFL. Where is the line? Because without a line, this game will start to lose it's credibility and it's nine billion dollar foundation will start crumbling within.

As I've said before, the NFL is in a lot more trouble than its $9 billion revenue figure makes you believe. More ridiculous fines like this and I'm not sure where defenders can go from there. Figure it out Goodell, we're all sick of this nonsense.