Football can get weird during the heat of a Sunday afternoon. It got REAL weird in Chicago on Sunday, when the Bears managed to turn a would-be special teams touchdown into a field goal with one of the more bizarre sequences you will ever see in the span of a few seconds.

With time running out in the second quarter, the Steelers lined up to kick a field goal. Sherrick McManis managed to block the kick and Marcus Cooper scooped up the ball and had a completely unobstructed path to the end zone. One problem: he decided to pull a Leon Lett and slow down as he was going into the end zone. 

Tight end Vance McDonald gets all the hustle points for chasing Cooper all the way to the 1-yard line, where he stripped the ball, setting up Cooper for a nightmare day in the film room next week. Kicker Chris Boswell was diving after the ball in the end zone along with some Bears players and batted the ball out of the end zone.  

As we know from the end to Seahawks-Lions last year, it is illegal to bat the ball out of the back of the end zone, to create a touchback or safety instead of allowing the other team to land on it for a touchdown.  

The whole thing was total chaos.

So the Bears made a great play, then made a historically stupid play, then the Steelers bailed out the Bears from their historically stupid mistake with a rare batted ball move. 

CBS Sports Jamie Erdhal reported that Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was told the half had ended and so he sent his team to the locker room. Tomlin looked ... less than pleased with the whole situation. The only Steelers player still out on the field was Darrius Heyward-Bey and the Steelers defense was forced to come sprinting back out on to the field, thanks to Chicago getting a free play. 

Here was referee Clete Blakeman's hefty explanation:

"After review of the play we determined the runner did fumble the ball at the 1-yard line. Then in the end zone we have an illegal bat by Pittsburgh which was at this time the defense," Blakeman said. "So by rule we will bring the ball back to the fumble spot, which is the 1, go half the distance to the goal line. It will be Chicago's ball at the half-yard line and we will extend the period with one untimed down."

So the Bears lined up on the half-yard line trying to score a touchdown and promptly COMMITTED A PENALTY. Of course they did. After the false start, the Bears were forced to move back to the 6-yard line, at which point John Fox just went ahead and kicked a field goal. 

The internet greatly enjoyed the whole thing.

There were plenty of Bears fans who were not thrilled about the state of things.

Even the Bears themselves would have to admit it was confusing.

An underrated aspect of it was Cooper catching a shot in an uncomfortable place on the fumble.

If the Bears end up losing this game by anything less than four points, Cooper is going to have a less-than fantastic Monday morning.