Bears LB Roquan Smith talks all-orange uniform, NFL’s roughing-the-passer penalties

The Bears will wear orange helmets Thursday for the first time in franchise history, and the player they chose as their model for social media marketing had some jokes ready.

Linebacker Roquan Smith said Tuesday he was fired up wear the uniforms. The Bears will have orange helmets, orange jerseys and white pants against the Commanders.

“It’s pretty sweet,” he said. “It’s a helmet. It’s orange. It’s different. But I think it’s pretty cool just to go out looking like a highlighter or something.”

The Bears will wear this uniform combination again on the road against the Cowboys on Oct. 30.

Smith also weighed in on what many considered to be egregious roughing-the-passer penalties over the weekend.

Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady drew one when he got tackled by Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, who appeared to do nothing more than wrap him up and wrestle him to the ground. Brady later described it on his podcast as “a long hug.”

But Smith was even more appalled by the flag against Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones on Monday when Jones stripped Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, recovered the ball and landed on top of Carr.

“Some of them calls — like personally, not even being biased for any team — I think were some bad calls,” Smith said. “Those refs were in tough positions, so they were forced to make some tough calls, but I definitely don’t agree with some of them.”

He continued, “The Carr one was worse. Come on. I’ve never seen a guy called, with the ball in his hands, for roughing the passer… You should be able to tackle. And if you have the ball, yeah. But that’s not my job.”

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