Bears' Fox defends botched challenge that led to turnover

Chicago Bears head coach John Fox challenged a Benny Cunningham run that was initially ruled down at the 2-yard line in Sunday's game against the Green Bay Packers, hoping for it to be reversed for a touchdown.

Instead, the Bears watched helplessly as the call was changed by referee Tony Corrente to a fumble out of the end zone, resulting in a touchback and Green Bay taking possession.

Relate: John Fox's challenge accidentally results in Bears turnover

"Looking at the review, he did not step out of bounds and started lunging toward the goal line," Corrente explained, according to Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. "As he was lunging toward the goal line, he lost the ball in his right hand first, probably, I'm going to guess, 2 feet maybe short of the pylon.

"As he got even closer, the left hand came off. We had to put together two different angles in order to see both hands losing the football. After he lost it the second time, it went right into the pylon. Which creates a touchback."

Fox defended the decision to challenge after the game, saying the Bears had "every indication" Cunningham scored and that the coaching staff didn't even think about the ball coming loose.

"Maybe you can see (Cunningham fumble) after looking at it 50 times, like some people are able to do," Fox said, according to Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times. "But during our look, during the game, that wasn't even discussed."