During Sunday’s Detroit Lions-Chicago Bears game, Lions linebacker Tahir Whitehead stepped on Bears left tackle Charles Leno trying to get out of a pile of bodies.
On Tuesday, presumably while watching the game again online, Chicago Tribune reporter Brad Biggs questioned whether it was an intentional act or not.
Intentional act? #Lions LB Tahir Whitehead stepped on #Bears LT Charles Leno after play. https://t.co/nNEWnfDHkM pic.twitter.com/yMW1EvaNVH
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) November 21, 2017
Whitehead’s wife got wind of it and, to put it mildly, wasn’t pleased that her husband’s integrity was being questioned in this manner.
https://twitter.com/Shananigans59/status/932985305526865920
Another person who wasn’t exactly keen on the idea that Whitehead would have stepped on a player like that on purpose was Lions head coach Jim Caldwell.
“I was unaware of it until I guess it came up this morning, and I highly doubt that’s the case, that it was intentional,” Caldwell said today, per Will Birchfield of CBS Detroit. “But I just saw it briefly.”
Of course, stomping on people was something another former Lions player was known for. Ndamukong Suh, who still has some violent tendencies and crosses the line on a semi-regular basis, has left a foul taste in the mouth of NFC North foes.
However, looking back at the tape, it sure seems like Whitehead was simply trying to walk out of the pile and accidentally stepped on Leno.