For Cincinnati Bengals running back and former Illinois player Chase Brown, “BeerGate” is over. On Sunday at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, a banner day for Brown – including a career-high 80 yards and two touchdowns in a 34-24 win over the Carolina Panthers – was dampened by a beverage that landed on him as he was walking off the field from a fan interaction.
On Thursday, the NFL announced that its investigation of the matter found that the spill wasn’t intentional. “The league’s review of the matter determined that portions of a drink were accidentally spilled on the Cincinnati player as Bengals’ fans attempted to catch the gloves he tossed to them,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement, via the Associated Press. “The league analyzed video of multiple angles from stadium security cameras and also social media.”
A fan in Carolina dumps a drink on Chase Brown after had his first multi-TD game of his career. Uncalled for. #Bengals @WCPO pic.twitter.com/bibdCOa2c0
— Marshall Kramsky (@marshallkramsky) September 29, 2024
Initial reports suggested that a beer had been deliberately dumped on Brown by a fan, which would be grounds for a league-wide stadium ban. But Brown said in the immediate aftermath that he believed the liquid in question was Gatorade – and that, frankly, the type of drink hardly mattered. “It looked like a blue liquid,” Brown told Cincinnati WKRC . “I’m like, ‘I’m about to get this jersey off anyway, and I’m super sweaty, so I’m going to have to shower anyway.'”…