NEWSLETTER
After games, NFL teams send plays to the league offices for review. I imagine in doing so, the hope is that the league offers up a mea culpa for its officials missing calls that teams find egregious.
And that appears to have happened with the Bears and the NFL, specifically with two key plays that took place in the team’s Week 9 loss to the Dolphins. First, with the defensive pass interference call that went against Eddie Jackson in coverage. And also with the non-call when Chase Claypool was blatantly interfered with on the Bears’ second to last offensive play of the day.
“Oops, my bad,” says the NFL.
More from NBC Sports Chicago’s Alex Shapiro:
Pobody’s nerfect, I guess.
Even still … this confession of a whoopsiedoodle days after it happened doesn’t make me feel any better about how the Bears game ended. Nor does it change the fact that we were robbed of fully seeing what Fields could do in an end-of-game situation where a field goal could tie or touchdown could win a game.
For what it’s worth, Jackson had a call to action for discipline for missed calls. And while he likely won’t get the pound of flesh he’s probably seeking, the NFL doesn’t necessarily take these missed calls lightly. It is possible that the whiffs from this game could cause officials on that crew to miss out on playoff assignments this season. On the one hand, that’s a bummer for those guys. I mean, who doesn’t want to officiate the most important games? But on the other hand, you’ve gotta earn it. And missing easy calls won’t do the trick.
