Who could have seen this coming?
Everyone, of course.
What I’m talking about is having the outcome of a NFL game possibly being impacted by a horrendous taunting call by refs who should be eating their whistles and letting football players show some emotion, especially in key moments.
That’s what happened late in Monday night’s Bears-Steelers game when Chicago linebacker Cassius Marsh was called for taunting after sacking Ben Roethlisberger. The sack would have led to the Steelers punting the ball away with a 3-point lead late in the fourth quarter, so Marsh was excited about making a big play for his team.
Instead, the ref thought Marsh crossed some sort of line and threw a flag. The Steelers got a new set of downs and went on to kick a field goal to take 6-point lead.
Check this out:
This was just called taunting. The officiating in the NFL continues to be a disaster. This entire game has been pathetic. pic.twitter.com/08UgyGyhJC
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 9, 2021
Taunting penalties are ruining the game đ”âđ« pic.twitter.com/lJuxgCTLGN
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) November 9, 2021
Horrible.
This makes it even worse:
Tony Corrente leaned into the contact and then held his flag toss like a walk off three pointer. What a joke pic.twitter.com/MhNlNVewJx
— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) November 9, 2021
Come on, ref.
The Bears later scored a TD to take a brief lead before the Steelers kicked a field goal in the final minute to win the game.
Would things have played out differently if that taunting call wasn’t made? We’ll never know.
What we do know is that call stunk and the NFL’s taunting rules are stupid.
Twitter went off on that call: