Super Bowl Sunday was filled with chaos. The Rams took the early lead yet the Bengals started to crawl back. Back and forth they went, until the Rams finished it off with a 20-23 win. Was it a perfect game from the officiating crew? Fans definitely have their opinions. 

“The officials should be ashamed of themselves. How do you miss that call? That was a blatant pass interference on Jalen Ramsey by Tee Higgins. Grabbed his face mask and mugged him. Inexcusable miss,” said Steven A. Smith. 

Clearly, humans are not perfect. However, in a game of this significance, referees cannot miss obvious calls. The first call that made fans go on a rant was the missed facemask penalty on Tee Higgins. On a 75-yard touchdown pass from Joe Burrow to Higgins, the receiver seemed to grab Jalen Ramsey’s helmet on the route. On the contrary, Bengal fans argue that Higgins only grabbed Ramsey’s mask for milliseconds. From the officials’ perspective, there was not a clear grab and twist to throw the flag as stated after the game. However, a face mask is a face mask no matter the length of the hold.

“Whatever you think of the Higgins-Ramsey face mask, there’s no debating this: if a corner does that to a receiver, flag’s flying,” tweeted Chase Goodbread. 

Another controversial missed call occurred on a Rams’ third down and goal at the Bengals’ eight yard line. Before Stafford snapped the ball, nearly the whole entire offensive line jumped. Since this was an ineligible play to be challenged, Coach Zac Taylor could not drop the flag. After the play was over, the Rams scored. But when fans got a closer look, it appeared that everyone besides the Rams’ center had moved. 

“But upon a closer look, a number of Rams offensive linemen appeared to move ahead of the snap. Nearly every member of L.A.’s front, save for the center, moved before the ball did, which should’ve been a false start,” reported Sports Illustrated. 

On the same play, another penalty was likely missed. 

“Wilson gets called for defensive holding. It’s just not holding,” said the former Vice President of Officiating for the NFL, Mike Pereira 

As mentioned above, Cincy was called for a holding penalty that eventually led to another L.A. score. Linebacker Logan Wilson was called for grabbing Cooper Kupp on a route over the middle of the field. Some fans believe they saw Kupp push off of Wilson. In addition, Wilson did not seem to have his arms wrapped around Kupp and was just trying to interfere with the pass. Yet fans’ opinions do not affect the officiating crew’s decision.

“Cooper tried to push off on me and I thought I made a good play on the ball,” Wilson said after the game. “But the refs saw otherwise. It’s a tough call.”

According to Football Operations, the rulebook states that if a defensive player “tackles or holds any opponent other than a runner,” it is considered a holding penalty. Based on one’s personal opinion, since no fans were on the field, you can say Wilson’s hands were just placed on Kupp’s jersey without grabbing the jersey or that he had his hands pulling on Cooper Kupp’s jersey. Did this call ruin the Bengals chance at glory? Everyone will have their own thoughts. 

“If the ref doesn’t call that bogus defensive hold near the goal line on a pass that was batted down, the Rams lose. Simple as that. All-time home cooking. Hollywood wins again,” said Skip Bayless. 

So, how does the NFL fix this issue? The obvious answer is for the league to hold crews accountable for missed calls and horrible mistakes. The league charges players for certain actions or words used, so why not charge referees for their awful calls? 

“Referees should be fined or have their pay based off performance, incentivizing them to make the right calls,” was suggested by the Hoban Visor. 

Action must be taken for these horrendous calls. Yet how would that be done? What improvements could be made? An effort must be made to solve this mess. It may have changed the result of a Superbowl.