NEWSLETTER
An egregious penalty that turns out to be costly for the Lions?
Yep, they’ve been there before:
Only the @LIONS. @NFL pic.twitter.com/HejYTkDBNR
— Stephen Tulloch (@stephentulloch) October 15, 2019
In what was a suspiciously officiated game on Monday Night Football, the Packers beat the Lions 23-22. And in case you skipped out on the assigned viewing, you missed a poorly officiated game that allowed the Packers to move to 5-1, dropped the Lions to 2-2-1, and has drawn comparisons to the most poorly officiated games in the replacement-ref era.
A summary, via former NFL head coach/current ESPN analyst Jack Del Rio:
https://twitter.com/coachdelrio/status/1183956821905686528
Maybe Del Rio ran out of characters in his tweet above, but I’ll do him a solid by also mentioning how the Packers defense had 13 players on the field for a play on a drive that came immediately after the same crew caught the Lions (and rightfully) flagged them for having 12 on the field in a call that extended a Green Bay offensive drive and led to a touchdown. Or maybe Del Rio simply got lost in the sauce because there were so many bad penalties, it was hard to keep up with them all. It was the latest in what has been an undeniable trend of poorly officiated games in the 2019 NFL season. Some games have seen too few flags, others too many. But last night’s Packers-Lions game being on Monday Night Football with a referee who has done a Super Bowl takes the cake.
It was hard to be a Bears fan watching that game and not feel empathy with Lions fans while watching David Bakhtiari sell “illegal hands to the face penalties” when he can get away with hog-tying Khalil Mack rushing off the edge. Been there, done that.
You can blame the refs until you are blue in the face. Not only is it your right, it is fair because two blown calls in high-leverage moments changed the trajectory of the game. There is no arguing it. But when you have a 13-point lead at the outset, win the turnover battle with a plus-3 margin, and leave a handful of points on the field because of your own missed opportunities, it’s on you. Except when it isn’t. Because, in this case, when a slew of officiating mistakes go against you in a one-point game, it is impossible not to feel like your team got jobbed.
The Packers got away with one on Monday Night Football, because of course they did. They are football’s version of the Cardinals. If they are given an inch, they take a mile, and act as if it was their right all long.
