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A Bears’ penalty dilemma: Cleaning up Soldier Field laundry

The “cleanest” playing NFL teams - meaning those penalized to a limited degree -are not guaranteed success in the win and loss column. It’s not correlation-causation. Just because you don’t commit many penalties, doesn’t mean all of sudden that you’re going to win the Super Bowl. That’s an easy conclusion to draw.

However, the disciplined squads that can avoid committing careless penalties on third downs in the red zone with an opportunity to score, or when the defense can get off the field, overall have a significant advantage as opposed to those feeling the wrath of officiating. Racking up a roughing-the-passer or a false start in high-leverage situations is less than ideal let alone at a regular consistent rate over the course of a season.