Can you short a motherboard if it's turned off?

[hdgro11]

If my motherboard flexed to the point where some pins on the back touched the case, but the motherboard wasnt plugged in to power, could it have shorted itself out?
Mentioning that not all the standoffs are put in.

 

[mortemas]

It’s possible that a trace/pin leading back to the positive side of the cmos battery touched the case. You wouldn’t want to short the battery to ground like that.