Sure the Packers have been screwed by the refs but not to the point it stopped them from going to the playoffs. The chiefs needed to win for the Steelers to get into the playoffs and then the worries start.

1- The Chiefs decided to bench most of their starters ( but surprisingly they played tough)

2- This is the big one that Stiller fans will remember. The Chiefs line up for the game winning fg from 41 yards out. Mr Irrelevant misses the fg, but the refs missed a blatant penalty. The rule states on a fg you can't have more than 6 guys on one side of the center. Looking at the lineup and snap of the ball the Chargers had 7 lined up on the right side of the ball. So the Chiefs should have gotten another 5 yards closer and had a shot at a 36 yard fg which should have been a chip shot and a KC win, thus sending the Steelers to the playoffs against the Bengals.


3- in overtime the Chargers try a fake punt on 4th down the guy fumbles the ball and the chiefs recover and return it for the game winning td, But the refs ruled his forward progress has been stopped. The Chargers go down and kick a fg and then hold the chiefs thus sending the Chargers to the playoffs.


So as much as I dislike the Steelers I actually feel sorry for them and their fans. So we can say the Stillers got screwed bigtime unlike we never had.

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Yeah the NFL said they screwed up the FG call or non call.

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Yeah like the Steelers have never benefitted from officiating. I seem to remember their 5th Lombardi being handed to them on a silver platter. The problem with Steelers fans is they think football started in 1973.

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It seems the refs are getting worse each season.
With the Seahawk/Packer game (the interception called a TD) we could blame the replacement refs, but it seems the "real" ones are almost as bad.

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Just saw this. Just a terrible fucking call. It's really an insult to the game that they started doing this over the last few years and it's not discussed at all. Two years ago the Giants fumbled deep in their own territory in the NFC title game and the Niners recovered. Should have basically won the game for the Niners but the officials decided that moving sideways for all of one second constituted forward progress being stopped and ruled it was New York's ball. The rules are already so skewed in favor of the offense and now fumbles sometimes don't count because the ref didn't fucking feel like letting the play finish.

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This is true, but I guess this is what happens when the game is so heavily regulated. It's close to impossible to officiate with so many rules at the speed of the NFL without reviewing every questionable call. I don't see the situation getting much better, honestly. Perhaps if the NFL makes a huge investment in their officials and trains them much better and such, but I'm not sure how much difference that would make beyond what they already do.

As weird as this sounds, I think a large problem is that some of these officials are just too old. You have athletes in peak condition being officiated by geezers in their 50s and 60s being asked to make snap decisions based on eye sight. Not all of them are that old but I do think there's something there that needs to be looked at.

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Saying that a .500 team was "screwed" out of the playoffs seems like a bit of an overstatement.

There are literally 1000s of plays during the course of a team's season during which it is inevitable that imperfect human refs may mess up a play or two. However, what is much more significant is the 1,000s of plays not impacted by the refs which you as a team can control throughout the rest of the season

They got screwed on that 1 game by a missed call but otherwise screwed themselves out of the playoffs by starting the year 2-6