Chicago Bears: 5 hot takes on NFL officiating, Roquan Smith and more

Hot take: The Bears vs Steelers game will go down as the most poorly officiated game in the last 20 years.

Was the Bears vs Steelers the worst officiated game in recent memory?

I don’t think it necessarily matters where this game is ranked on the list all-time. Unfortunately, poor officiating is nothing new to the sport. With that said, whether it’s the absolute worst or not, it doesn’t change the fact that Monday’s game was overshadowed by poor officiating and missed calls that seemed to favor one team solely.

Blaming officials is one of the most overused excuses in the book. Very rarely do officials play a significant role in determining the outcome of the game. Even some of the worst calls in league history didn’t entirely change the game’s result on its own. What made this game stand out was that there weren’t just one or two minor missed calls that may have or may not have impacted the final score, but there were several questionable calls that came in pivotal spots. Whether it was taking a touchdown off the board on an illegal block where the linemen didn’t touch the defender or a very questionable taunting penalty on fourth down that resulted in a Pittsburgh field goal. Not only were these calls heavily criticized by impartial fans and media members, but these calls directly changed the score.

The touchdown that was wrongly wiped off the board cost Chicago at least three, possibly four points as they had to settle for a field goal, and the taunting penalty on Cassius Marsh gave the Steelers an automatic first down, and instead of having to punt the Steelers used the penalty to kick a field goal. These two plays alone resulted in at least six Steelers’ points, and that’s not even including some of the other questionable calls against the Bears that also indirectly affected the score. In a two-point loss, it’s hard to say that these calls didn’t play a significant role in the outcome.

Bottom line

I don’t plan to write another article about this topic just because you can always point to one or two calls that favor the opposition. However, I took exception to this game due to the sheer volume of missed calls and the fact that they almost exclusively benefited the Steelers.