Perhaps the NFL’s officials were confused by the fact that there were games on Saturday and Sunday in Week 15. Perhaps the NFL’s officials were thinking about the last-minute things on their holiday shopping lists. Or maybe it was just late-season exhaustion. Whatever it was, there were a lot of really bad calls in the NFL’s Week 15, and that’s in a season where there have been a lot to date.
Bad officiating is especially notable in the 2022 season, and Week 15 really stood out. Here’s why it’s a problem. Through Sunday’s games, there have been an NFL-record 101 games decided by a touchdown or less.
Per NFL Research, 14 of 15 games that have been completed in Week 15 have been within one score (eight points) in the fourth quarter and there have been 171 games within one score (eight points) in the fourth quarter this season, the most such games through the first 15 weeks in NFL history.
More than ever, the NFL’s idea of competitive balance has come true, but also more than ever, the NFL’s purported idea of officiating competence has been exposed as perhaps an unreachable goal.
Clearly, changes need to be made in the offseason, but before we get into that, let’s review the three games in which the most bad calls happened, and how those calls affected the final result.