Chicago Bears wide receiver Javon Wims has been suspended for two games without pay by the NFL following his ejection from Sunday's overtime loss to New Orleans for sucker punching Saints safety CJ Gardner-Johnson.
Things got heated between the two teams during the third quarter on Sunday, with the game tied at 13, when Gardner-Johnson appeared to get in the face of Wims's teammate, Bears receiver Anthony Miller.
After a subsequent play was whistled dead, Wims rushed over to Gardner-Johnson, punching the Saints safety twice in the helmet. However, and somewhat predictably, Wims failed to cause any damage to the fully padded Gardner-Johnson.
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Things got heated between the two teams during the third quarter on Sunday, with the game tied at 13, when Saints safety CJ Gardner-Johnson (No. 22) appeared to get in the face of Wims's teammate, Bears receiver Anthony Miller. After a subsequent play was whistled dead, Wims (No. 83) rushed over to Gardner-Johnson, punching the Saints safety twice in the helmet. However, and somewhat predictably, Wims failed to cause any damage to the fully padded Gardner-Johnson
Wims's two-punch combination resulted in a brief brawl during the Saints' overtime victory
Chicago Bears wide receiver Javon Wims has been suspended for two games without pay by the NFL following his ejection from Sunday's overtime loss to New Orleans for sucker punching Saints safety CJ Gardner-Johnson
Players from both teams jumped into the melee and Wims was quickly ejected right before Bears quarterback Nick Foles threw an interception that turned into Saints kicker Wil Lutz's tiebreaking field goal.
The Saints would go on to win, 26-23, in overtime.
It was unclear what exactly led to the outburst by Wims, a 26-year-old third-year receiver. Gardner-Johnson denied a report that he spit at Wims.
'It ain't got nothing to do with me. If he's acting out, that's on him,' Gardner-Johnson said, as quoted by ESPN. 'It wasn't no incident. We won the game. I mean, everybody, it's a lot of he said, he said. Ain't nothing happened. Nobody got spit on.
'Shouldn't be nowhere near the field of play when the game's going on. So I ain't answering no more questions about that.'
'We've talked to him and told him that that's not how things go here,' Nagy said. 'One of Javon's strengths is his character and who he is as a person, and he's since apologized, but you don't have that. There's no part of that in this game.'
Wims' penalty pushed the Bears back to a second-and-20, and Foles was intercepted by Marshon Lattimore on the next play. But Chicago's defense stepped up again, and New Orleans settled for another field goal by Lutz.
Bears defensive tackle Akiem Hicks said he didn't see Wims' play, but he heard about it.
'Knowing the character of Javon, I know that he doesn't want to have a situation that might go sour,' he said. 'With a lot of respect for him, I understand that things happen and we'll move forward.'
Chicago Bears wide receiver Javon Wims (83) talks with head coach Matt Nagy after being flagged for unnecessary roughness