Early in the second quarter, trailing 14-0, the Rams lined up in punt formation on fourth-and-15 from the Chicago 49. But instead of booting the Football, punter Donnie Jones passed to Eric Bassey, who was lined up as the outside "gunner" on punt coverage.

Bears defender Corey Graham broke up the pass with a hard tackle but clearly arrived early. A penalty flag was thrown for what looked like a clear case of pass interference. Then, things got goofy. The flag was picked up. No pass interference. Incomplete pass. Bears ball.

Two plays later, Bears running back Matt Forte raced 47 yards for a touchdown.

Afterward, referee Terry McAuley had the rule book handy when asked by a pool reporter why the flag was picked up.

"It's rule reference 8-2-5, note 5, and I'll read it," McAuley said. -"'Whenever a team presents an apparent punting formation, defensive pass interference is not to be called for action on the end man on the line of scrimmage.'"

The reasoning being, the defender has no way of knowing that the gunner is going to be a receiver on a fake. But Graham didn't just try to jam Bassey; he tried to tackle him. And certainly, tackling a gunner would at least be a case of defensive holding, wouldn't it?

"It was not deemed to be holding," McAuley said. "I believe at that point it was just a low hit, so it was not deemed to be holding. It was deemed to be contact, and there is not a defensive pass interference."

So the contact wasn't considered an attempt to tackle Bassey?

"It was not," McAuley said.

"I felt like it was a tackle," Bassey said. "That's what I asked (the official). If anything, it's holding. It's just - you know - we're not getting the breaks."

But coach Jim Haslett's ire wasn't directed at the game officials. He was furious with Todd Johnson for calling the fake in the first place.

"It was a dumb play for the up-back to call on a fourth-and-15," said Haslett, who was seen dressing down Johnson on the sideline after the play.

Romberg starts

After losing his starting job to Nick Leckey because of a broken hand in the preseason, Brett Romberg finally got his first start at center Sunday.

Romberg didn't get much advance notice. When asked when he found out he was starting, Romberg replied: "Right before national anthem."

His reaction to that news? "I go find Marc (Bulger) as fast as I possibly can, and start getting some snaps together," Romberg said. "It's been a while."

Turns out Leckey tweaked an ankle last week against San Francisco. (The Rams made no mention of the injury to the media.) Sunday morning, Leckey again tweaked the ankle during pregame warm-up and was unable to play.

Sitting it out

Pregame inactives for the Rams were: RB Steven Jackson (thigh), LB Chris Draft (foot), CB Tye Hill (knee), OT Orlando Pace (knee), DE Eric Moore (neck-spine), OG Roy Schuening and OT Anthony Davis.