The NFL has an officiating crisis on its hands.
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Each week, it seems there a handful of controversial calls by referees that either mar the outcome of games or the public conversation about the weekend centers on missed or blown penalties that fans perceive to alter the results.
Sunday night at Lambeau Field, officials threw a flag on Packers safety Jonathan Owens when he hit Patrick Mahomes seconds before the Chiefs quarterback stepped out of bounds, but was hardly a late hit. Later, Packers defensive back Carrington Valentine tackled Marquez Valdes-Scantling just before the ball arrived deep downfield, as officials missed one of the more egregious pass interference penalties of Sunday or any NFL Sunday, for that matter.
Amid a season that has put officials in the crosshairs of fans' ire, even those inside the league are acknowledging the mess the NFL has on its hands.
"They've gotta do something about these refs!" an AFC Scout texted FanBuzz on Monday morning.
Pressure could be mounting for the NFL to act on how inconsistently games are called from stadium-to-stadium and from week-to-week.
These questionable calls even have some observers questioning whether the legalization of sports betting has tainted how officials call the games. Whether it is the league turning the other cheek to its officiating problem for the benefit of the legal sports books benefiting from the volatility within individual matchups, or in a worst case scenario, officials making decisions based on sports betting, it has become a major talking point.
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If the integrity of the sport is called into question, executives on Park Avenue might be forced to act, be it this offseason, or even sooner.
"They need to make the officials full-time," the scout suggested.
Unlike the NBA, that employs 74 full-time referees, or Major League Baseball, with 76 full-time umpires on payroll, the NFL's referees are part-time employees.
If the league cares about officiating consistency, and it remains to be seen whether it does, hiring officials and making them salaried employees might be a vital step towards fixing the problem. Until the NFL does something, the league could be playing with fire when it comes to its fanbase and how it views the sport.
