I have a whiney b-i-l. He posed on facebook last night the refs gave the game to GB. I was stunned. I didn't think the calls where THAT bad. Or THAT one sided.
His point of contention was the roughing the passer called on Peppers saying it was not helmet to helmet. And that was the only drive that GB scored a TD. I told him that it does not have to be helmet to helmet contact to be roughing. Throwing a forearm is in that same roughing category.

I then mentioned that there were 3 plays that the refs missed that could have gone GB's way.
1 Left guard Williams clearly flinched before the snap and it was not called. 3 Packer players stood up and/or pointed at him before the ball was snapped. Chicago ran the play and made a pretty big gain.
2 No offensive PI was called on the Chicago receiver on the deep pass on the right side. The Packer defender had position for an int but he was grabbed by the receiver.
3 Tillman interception should have been over ruled. Mike Pereira, the former vice president of officiating for the NFL said that he felt the call should have been overturned. He thought the ball hit the ground.

I also told him the roughing play was so important to the outcome of the game that with 3 daily papers and a dozen columnists no one even mentioned the call at all.

Does anyone else feel the game was decided by the officials?

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There was at least one offensive pass interference that could have been called against the Bears but wasn't. I don't think the officials played a huge role in this game. The Bears only scored 3 points in this game. No team is going to win many games scoring only 3 points, regardless of how good or bad the officials are.

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Charlie Peprah clearly held the WR in the end zone. I think that was their FG drive.

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Yup he sure did.

Also the Peppers flag? I think that was a crap call...

So the non hold in endzone and the peppers play cancel each other out

But during the game I recall saying now the luck is on our side and refs giving us a break...

The first holding call on Bulaga was weak.. that could be called snap in and out.. the defender was going to the ground already.

The Refs missed one bad hands to the face by Clifton on Peppers.. should have drawn a flag on us.

Preprah indeed latched on for a play in the end zone.

Tim Jennings got away with one over the back early in the game on Jennings.

That said.. every game is going to have missed calls.. I didn't think yesterdays was any different or that there was any slanted calls.

The hit by Peppers was debatable in my opinion.. however take that with that I think QB's are over protected in today's game.

I think Jennings and Jones drops yesterday had more of an impact on the game than any missed or called penalty. That and our special teams play.

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I will agree that I was amazed Clifton wasn't called for illegal hands to the face. There were also a few times I was surprised our own DBs weren't called for pass interference or illegal contact downfield, not because I thought they had committed the offense but because I am so used to officials calling games so tightly on our DBs. It's been a pleasant change to notice the decline in penalties called on our DBs over the latter half of the season.

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Tell your bil to review the Bares game from week 1.

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Just tell your BIL to STFU. Tell him Cutler is our bitch. If we had Finley and Grant it would have been a blowout. This year isn't the first time the get a division title being the second best team.

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I mean for sure. I guess Bears fans will whine if their opponent doesn't get flagged 18 times.

There was nothing out of the ordinary Sunday at all. They don't get them all right and they miss some from time to time.

Typically called game. What I hate is when we get a crew that pulls the flag every other play. I am thinking this was in essence a playoff game for us and now that the PO's are here the refs normally let the teams play. For the most part the did Sunday.

It's playoff time. Keep the rags in the pocket and let them play.

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Yep. Exactly right here. This is a typical game in the NFL between two good defensive teams. Low scoring and naturally calls will be missed. It didn't affect the outcome much at all.

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