NFL has too much at stake to not fix the officiating problem

“We got a little lucky at the end. We got some calls” –Joe Burrow

The Kansas City Chiefs entered the second half of this weekend’s game leading by multiple scores. Over the next two quarters that lead evaporated with the Bengals kicking a go-ahead field goal as time expired to win a critical game for both teams.

The Chiefs made their share of mistakes. The offensive play calling’s creativity of the last eight games seemingly disappeared, with the offense scoring a meager three points in the second half. The defense gave up multiple inexcusable gains in both halves. This culminated in an inexplicable all-out blitz on 3rd-and-27 that didn’t put pressure on anyone but the Chiefs.

Whatever the NFL is doing isn’t working, and officiating is too integral for them not to fix it.

On this particular play, the defensive coaching staff decided to put Charvarius Ward in single coverage against Ja’Marr Chase. Chase single-handedly kept the Bengals in the game through four quarters. Steve Spagnuolo undoubtedly should have made a less aggressive call with help over the top in that instance.

Mistakes and play calls aside, there is arguably an equally egregious but more wide-sweeping factor to discuss. Something that can in one fell swoop undermine the sanctity of professional sports, and has in the past: officiating. If you aren’t familiar with Tim Donaghy, take a break from this piece to brush up on a little bit of scandalous professional sports history. 

“I’d like to comment on each one, but I don’t want to be fined” –Andy Reid

Here are the key notes from the last two quarters:

• The Chiefs had three offensive drives in the second half, compared with six in the first half
• The Bengals had six penalties that resulted in first downs
• The Bengals had four eventual scoring drives stopped on third or fourth down converted by a defensive penalty.
• The Chiefs were called for five penalties on the Bengals final two drives

The officiating in this game, particularly the second half, was objectively egregious. It coincidentally began once the Chiefs looked like they’d run away with the game. It didn’t end until the ball traveled through the uprights as time expired.

Out of nowhere the referees seemingly switched gears, calling the Chiefs secondary much tighter than they had in the previous half. The Bengals were officially four of 10 on third down, but that doesn’t include the numerous unofficial third downs converted through ticky-tack pass interference calls.

The egregiousness peaked in the fourth quarter when the referees penalized L’Jarius Sneed for a tackle he made in bounds and without grabbing the player’s collar. It appeared as if the Chiefs couldn’t play coverage for fear of a penalty and now they’d need to be cautious even tackling for fear of a personal foul.

On multiple plays on the final drive, the referees missed obvious false starts by Joe Burrow and the offensive line, yet they coincidentally called penalties on both teams on a major play that would have at least given the Chiefs the ball with a chance.

Two things can be true at once. First, the Chiefs undoubtedly killed themselves on multiple plays—most importantly with the inexplicable all-out blitz on third and 27. There’s an argument to be made that they didn’t deserve to win this game, with multiple bad play calls and drops resurfacing from earlier in the season.

Second, the referees were also terrible. If you think this is sour grapes, see the quote above by Joe Burrow. Per reporters following the game Burrow mentioned “We got some calls” in one fashion or another between three and four times. Andy Reid made comments he never does regarding the officiating. Maybe the Chiefs don’t win the game without poor officiating, but no honest fan could watch Sunday’s game and admit the officials didn’t make a marked impact.

Here’s why this is actually an important topic. Every single player, coach, executive, and fan knows that the officiating in the NFL is incredibly poor. We’ve heard analyses time and again the last few years regarding the topic. It’s also easy to see it has gotten worse over the last few years. It has presumably cost teams critical regular-season games (see above), playoff games, and even Super Bowls.

The problem is at this point there seems to be no accountability for referees. The league reportedly analyzes “every single play” and grades officials as such, yet officiating has declined precipitously in the past few years.

Maybe the NFL simply doesn’t think it’s a problem. After all, fans don’t say anything and they keep coming back for more. Part of that is because every time poor officiating rears its ugly head the devil’s advocates demand fans don’t speak of it. The sentiment goes something like, “You are a poor sport if you mention the referees had an impact on the game.”

Unfortunately, this strategy hasn’t worked. Without scrutiny most things in life don’t get better, they get worse. With sports gambling growing in popularity and professional sports’ dicey history when that element is introduced, better and more public officiating analyses should be in place. It only takes one bad referee to significantly reduce the credibility of the league.

It’s hard not to say officiating can swing a game significantly after Sunday’s game. Whatever the NFL is doing isn’t working, and officiating is too integral for them not to fix.